Government salary transparency for Texas — how we built it

Job Title · City Detail

Contract Specialist V Salary in Austin, Texas

In Austin, the State of Texas reports 15 public employees holding the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V classification. Average annual base pay is $85,705, with a median of $88,200 and a range from $65,104 to $102,582. The largest employer of this title in Austin is HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION.

Employees15
Average pay$85,705
Median pay$88,200
Top earner$102,582

How Austin compares for the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V role

Across all of Texas state government, the average base pay for the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V classification is $85,705, calculated from 15 employees in 6+ agencies statewide. In Austin specifically the average sits at $85,705, which runs about 0% above the statewide figure for this role — a difference of $0.00 per year between an average Austin incumbent and an average Texas incumbent in the same classification. That gap is consistent with what you would expect given the mix of employers active in Austin and the cost-of-living posture of the metro relative to other Texas cities.

Compared to all public-sector employees in Austin (regardless of title), the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V role pays about 30% less than the citywide average of $122,907. That places this title below the citywide average, which is common for support, technical, and entry-level state classifications — the citywide figure is pulled upward by the state's senior medical, judicial, executive, and academic-leadership salaries. For an apples-to-apples comparison against other roles in Austin, see our city profile for Austin or compare against the same title in other Texas cities via the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V hub.

Within Austin, the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V classification appears at 6 different state employers: HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, TEXAS DEPT OF LICENSING AND REGULATION, DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION RESOURCES, DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES. The single largest employer is HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION, which accounts for 7 of the 15 reported records in this combination. Where multiple agencies employ the same classification, pay variation is normal — agencies set individual pay within the state classification plan's salary band based on tenure, market conditions, and any agency-specific salary supplements that have been authorized by the Legislature or by the agency's governing board.

Top Contract Specialist Vs in Austin by pay

NameAgencyAnnual payHire date
Lisa Anderson HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $102,582 January 16, 2007
Stephen Stewart TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION $97,872 June 6, 2020
Maria Elizondo TEXAS DEPT OF LICENSING AND REGULATION $97,241 September 1, 2025
Dominique Pope TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION $96,374 December 1, 2012
Lauren Johnson TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION $94,159 June 24, 2002
Sabrina Simpson TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION $90,519 February 18, 2020
Valerie Griffin HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $89,880 December 4, 2006
Michele Rivers HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $88,200 July 9, 2018
Adriane Addison HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $84,000 August 24, 2021
Victor Adkins Jr DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION RESOURCES $82,034 September 1, 2023
Stefanie Chapa HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $77,026 November 6, 2024
Alyxis Fuentes DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES $76,000 September 13, 2021
Mistie Wolfe DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES $73,804 February 19, 2024
Timothy Reedy HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $70,781 May 1, 2022
Yadira Galvan-davis HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION $65,104 April 15, 2019

Reading this number in context

The annual pay column on this page reflects what the State of Texas reports as the employee’s annualized base salary at the time of the most recent payroll snapshot. It does not include benefits, retirement contributions (such as TRS or ERS employer contributions), longevity pay, hazardous-duty pay, paid leave cash-outs, contract buyouts, or any supplements paid out of foundation, athletic, or grant funds — categories that can add materially to total compensation, especially in academic medical centers and senior university roles. Use the figures here as an apples-to-apples baseline for comparison; treat them as the starting point of a conversation, not the final word.

Two employees in Austin with the same CONTRACT SPECIALIST V title can earn very different amounts for legitimate reasons. The State of Texas operates a position classification plan in which most titles map to a salary group with a defined minimum, midpoint, and maximum, and agencies are free to set individual pay anywhere within that band. Universities and elected-officials’ offices are exempt from the standard plan altogether and set pay independently. Tenure, prior agency service, market-pay adjustments approved under Texas Government Code Chapter 659, and acting-leadership stipends all contribute to within-title variation. For the full set of caveats, see our methodology.

If you want to compare what the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V role pays in other Texas cities, the CONTRACT SPECIALIST V hub aggregates every reported incumbent statewide. To see what other classifications pay in Austin, the Austin city profile breaks down the local mix of employers and titles. For peer roles, the job-titles index is the master list.