Your monthly budget in Houston.

Houston had 2,387,910 residents in 2024, a median household income of $64,361 and a median gross rent of $1,408 a month, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. Its two biggest work engines both run around the clock. The refineries and chemical plants along the Ship Channel operate on rotating shifts, and the Texas Medical Center, which describes itself as the largest medical complex in the world, employs more than 120,000 people.

That means a lot of Houston paychecks are built from hours, not salaries: base pay, shift differentials, overtime, and in the plants, the bursts of extra work that come with scheduled maintenance turnarounds. The work can also stop. LyondellBasell’s closure of its Houston refinery put about 800 operators and technicians on the local job market by mid-2025, according to a regional industry analysis by KI Talent.

This page is for the process operator, the maintenance tech, the respiratory therapist and the ICU nurse whose income moves with the schedule. By the end you will know what your month needs on base pay alone, how much overtime to keep, and how to fold hurricane season into a plan instead of reacting to it.

Base pay is the plan, overtime is a bonus

Shift work produces paychecks that look different every time, and the easy mistake is to budget on the good ones. A refinery operator might clear a lot more in a turnaround month; a nurse who picks up two extra twelve-hour shifts sees it on the next deposit. Neither is guaranteed.

The workable method is simple. Your plan runs on base hours plus your usual differential. Overtime is logged as variable income when it is paid, and you decide ahead of time where it goes. When a unit goes down for maintenance or a hospital cuts extra shifts, the plan does not change.

No state income tax, real sales tax

Texas has no personal income tax, so your stub shows only federal withholding, Social Security, Medicare and benefits. Overtime still has federal withholding, Social Security and Medicare taken out on each check, which is why a large overtime deposit can feel smaller than expected. Sales tax in the City of Houston is 8.25%, according to the Texas Comptroller, and it applies to the tools, boots and electronics many shift workers buy for themselves.

Choosing your own electricity

Houston is in the deregulated part of the Texas grid. You choose a retail electricity provider, while CenterPoint owns the wires. That gives you options and one recurring risk: when a fixed-rate contract ends, it can roll to a variable rate that costs more just as summer begins. The state’s Power to Choose site, run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, lists offers by ZIP code. Put your contract end date in your budget as a reminder.

Storm season is a budget line

Hurricane season runs from June through November. A storm can take power for days, close a plant or a clinic and leave you with spoiled food, a hotel bill or a deductible. FEMA says most new flood insurance policies take 30 days to take effect, so coverage has to be in place before a forecast, not after. Treat storm costs as a savings goal with a June deadline, funded in the quiet months.

What stays fixed in a Houston month

• Rent or mortgage, plus renters or homeowners insurance and, ideally, flood coverage.
• Electricity at your plan’s rate, with the summer peak, plus water and gas.
• A car payment, insurance and gas, since most commutes to the Ship Channel or the Medical Center are by car.
• Phone and internet.
• Childcare that works around rotating shifts, which often costs more.
• Card balances and any personal loans.

Example one: a chemical plant operator in Pasadena

The figures in both examples are illustrative. Ray is a process operator at a plant on the Ship Channel, working a rotating twelve-hour schedule. On base pay and his night differential, he takes home $5,300 a month. Turnaround months have pushed that to $7,800.

Fixed costs: mortgage with taxes and insurance on a house in Pasadena $1,950, flood policy $70, electricity and water $260, truck payment and insurance $720, gas $220, phone and internet $140, child support $650, credit card payment $200. Total: $4,210. Weekend reserve: $300.

On base pay: $5,300 minus $4,210 minus $300 leaves $790 of real free money.

During the spring turnaround, Ray’s overtime adds $2,500 in a month. His rule, set before the work started: $1,200 to a goal called Slow quarter, $800 to the credit card, $500 to spend. When the plant later cut overtime entirely, the plan stayed at $790 and the goal covered the gap.

Enter your base pay without overtime and see what your month really leaves before the next turnaround →

Example two: a nurse and a teacher in Pearland

Yolanda is an ICU nurse at a hospital in the Medical Center, working three twelve-hour shifts a week, and takes home $6,100 a month. She picks up an extra shift about twice a month, worth roughly $700 after taxes. Her husband, Curtis, teaches middle school and takes home $3,900, paid over twelve months.

Planned income, base only: $10,000.

Fixed costs: mortgage with taxes and insurance $2,700, flood policy $85, electricity $230, water and gas $120, two cars with insurance $990, gas and Medical Center parking $340, phone and internet $165, daycare $1,150, student loans $380. Total: $6,160. Weekend reserve: $450.

$10,000 minus $6,160 minus $450 leaves $3,390.

The extra-shift money is logged as it arrives. From January to May, the first $300 of it each month goes to a Hurricane fund goal of $1,500, due June 1. After that, extra shifts go to the student loans. When a July storm knocked out power for four days, the hotel and the lost groceries came out of the goal, and the regular month was untouched.

Why Monthly is manual

Monthly is a free budgeting app for the web and Android, filled in by hand. It does not link to your bank, does not move money and does not offer financial advice. You enter base pay, overtime, fixed costs, installments and debts, and the app shows real free money. Savings goals for storms or slow quarters live under Patrimonio with a target, a date and logged contributions. For more on uneven pay, see the guide on tracking irregular or seasonal income and the steps for building an emergency fund.

Real free money and your next step

In Houston, the schedule writes the paycheck and the Gulf writes some of the bills. Real free money is what is left after fixed costs and a weekend reserve come out of your base pay, with overtime given a job before it lands and storm costs funded before June. With that in place, a lost overtime month or a week without power is something your plan already absorbs.

Set up your base-pay month in Monthly, add a hurricane goal, and see what is free when overtime stops →