Government salary transparency for Texas — how we built it

Job Title · City Detail

District Judge, Active Salary in Austin, Texas

In Austin, the State of Texas reports 237 public employees holding the DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE classification. Average annual base pay is $209,373, with a median of $210,000 and a range from $175,000 to $210,000. The largest employer of this title in Austin is COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY.

Employees237
Average pay$209,373
Median pay$210,000
Top earner$210,000

How Austin compares for the DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE role

Across all of Texas state government, the average base pay for the DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE classification is $209,373, calculated from 237 employees in 1+ agencies statewide. In Austin specifically the average sits at $209,373, 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 DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE role pays about 70% more than the citywide average of $122,907. That places this title in the upper half of Austin's state workforce by pay, reflecting both the seniority that this classification typically carries and the agency mix that employs it locally. 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 DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE hub.

Within Austin, the DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE classification appears at 1 different state employer: COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY. The single largest employer is COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY, which accounts for 237 of the 237 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 District Judge, Actives in Austin by pay

NameAgencyAnnual payHire date
Tamara Needles COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2017
Daniel Kindred COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2009
Denise Fortenberry COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2021
Rebecca Ramirez COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2013
Donald Cosby COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 October 5, 2000
Lowell Hukill COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2015
Jayne Bradley COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2015
Patricia Maginnis COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 April 11, 2016
William Bosworth Jr COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 September 10, 2003
Chad Bradshaw COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2023
Clifford Brown COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2011
Martin Hoffman COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2007
Winford Whalen COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2007
John Mcclendon Iii COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2011
Dana Cooley COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 7, 2022
Robert Cadena COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 February 15, 2013
Justin Sanderson COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2017
Lisa Michalk COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 May 20, 2010
Eric Moye COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2009
Dale Tillery COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 December 28, 2010
Monica Zapata Notzon COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2011
Marcos Lizarraga COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2011
Graham Quisenberry COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 February 13, 2004
Rosemarie Alvarado COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2017
Kelley Kimble COMPTROLLER'S - JUDICIARY $210,000 January 1, 2025

Showing 25 of 237 records, sorted by annual pay (highest first).

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 DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE 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 DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE role pays in other Texas cities, the DISTRICT JUDGE, ACTIVE 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.