Moving between states / Texas

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Moving from Massachusetts to Texas for work

What moves with you from Massachusetts to Texas: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

On a $60,000 salary Texas leaves you roughly $3,000 a year more than Massachusetts does, because Texas has no state income tax on wages.

SalaryMassachusetts state taxTexas state taxDifference a year
$40,000$2,000$0+$2,000
$60,000$3,000$0+$3,000
$90,000$4,500$0+$4,500

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. In Massachusetts: plus 4% on income above about $1 million. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Massachusetts to Texas

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Massachusetts certificate stays on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Nurse Aide Registry; to work in Texas you apply to the Texas Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide Registry for reciprocity. Reciprocity for an active, unencumbered CNA from another state registry; Texas adds you to its registry rather than issuing a certificate. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Massachusetts to Texas

Endorsement, six to twelve weeks. Massachusetts is not in the compact, so your Massachusetts licence is single-state. Apply to the Texas board for licensure by endorsement (Nursys verification, fingerprints, the board's fee); six to twelve weeks is normal, so start before you give notice. Because Texas is a compact state, ask for the new licence to be issued as a multistate licence: from then on it works in every compact state.

Electrician: Massachusetts to Texas

Reciprocity likely. Texas licenses electricians at state level through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and TDLR reciprocates journeyman and master licences with a handful of states and otherwise waives the exam for nobody. Your Massachusetts licence comes from the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians, a state body, which is what a reciprocity application needs: ask it for a verification letter before you move.

CDL: Massachusetts to Texas

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a Texas resident you surrender the Massachusetts CDL at a Texas driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in Texas. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

No statewide program in Texas pays people to move in. Towns sometimes list an offer through MakeMyMove, and employers in short-staffed trades pay relocation themselves; ask for it in writing before you accept.

Openings filed in Texas

609 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by Texas employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Massachusetts to Texas

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for Texas employers.

Plan my move to Texas

Same move, by trade

CNA: Massachusetts to Texas · RN or LPN: Massachusetts to Texas · Electrician: Massachusetts to Texas · Truck driver: Massachusetts to Texas

From Massachusetts to the states next to Texas

New Mexico (progressive, top rate 5.9%) · Oklahoma (progressive, top rate 4.75%) · Arkansas (progressive, top rate 3.9%) · Louisiana (flat 3% state income tax)

To Texas from the states next to Massachusetts

New Hampshire · Vermont · New York · Connecticut · Rhode Island

Everything about working in Texas · All moves between states · All 50 states

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