Prevailing wage in Texas

Who and what this applies to

Public-work construction paid wholly or partly from public funds under Government Code Chapter 2258. Section 2258.002 excludes work done directly by a public utility company under a public-authority order, and section 2258.021(b) excludes maintenance work from its wage requirement.

Thresholds and scope

The scope is determined by the covered public work and statutory exclusions. A municipality’s population limit on collecting a statutory penalty is not a project-value threshold.

The rules

• Covered contractors and subcontractors must pay workers at least the prevailing rates determined for similar work in the locality, including the applicable holiday and overtime rates. Source
• For political-subdivision contracts, section 2258.022(a) permits a local wage survey or the U.S. Department of Labor Davis-Bacon determination. Section 2258.022(b) prescribes a different survey method for state-awarded work in counties bordering Mexico or adjacent to those counties; the simple either-or statement is not universal. Source
• The public body must put the determined rates in both the invitation for bids and the contract. Section 2258.023 sets a $60 penalty per underpaid worker per calendar day or part of a day, but subsection (c) excludes a violation when the public body failed to determine and specify the rates. A municipality may collect that penalty only if its population exceeds 10,000. Source

Primary sources

• Texas Government Code §§2258.002, 2258.021–2258.024

Sources reviewed 2026-09-30. This guide covers the projects and rules stated above.

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