2026 Edition · An annual reference on what work pays

Bartenders

San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX metropolitan area. Estimated employment 5,610.

Data released May 2025 BLS OEWS · SOC 35-3011
Fig. 1 — The wage rule

Where you sit in the distribution

Drag the marker, or type a figure
$21,980 · 50th
$16,38010th
$17,41025th
$21,98050th
$35,28075th
$54,50090th

That is the medianhalf of bartenders in San Antonio earn more.

Table 1 — Adjusted

$21,980 in San Antonio buys what $23,200 buys across the country as a whole.

San Antonio's regional price parity is 94.7 — below the national average, so a dollar here goes further than the nominal figure suggests. Adjusted figures for other metros are in the nearby-metros table below.

Table 2 — Nearby metros

The same job, elsewhere in Texas

Adjusted figures apply each metro's regional price parity, so the columns are directly comparable.

Metro areaMedianAdjustedRPPvs. San Antonio
Dallas$24,170$23,400103.1+1.0%
Austin$23,670$24,10098.1+4.0%
Texarkana$22,880$27,20084.0+17.4%
Houston$22,770$23,10098.6−0.5%
Beaumont$22,600$25,10090.0+8.2%
Midland$21,980$22,90095.8−1.1%
San Antonio This page$21,980$23,20094.7
Abilene$21,890$24,20090.4+4.4%

Price parity and difference against San Antonio are in the full table on wider screens.

Fig. 2 — Five-year trend

Nominal against real

The same median, once as published and once restated in 2025 dollars.

20k23k25k28k30k 20212022202320242025
Nominal, as published Real, in 2025 dollars US$ thousands

Published pay rose 1.0% over the five years to 2025. Adjusted for inflation it fell 15.0% — prices rose faster than pay since 2021. The two lines meet at the right edge by construction, since 2025 is the base year.

Sources

How this page was made

Wage data
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
Price parity
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
Inflation
Real figures deflate by CPI-U annual averages (BLS, all items, US city average).
Employment
5,610 employed in this occupation in the metro (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
Occupation
SOC 35-3011, Bartenders. Mapped to our taxonomy as bartenders.

Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.