Job Title · City Detail
Justice Salary in Austin, Texas
In Austin, the State of Texas reports 13 public employees holding the JUSTICE classification. Average annual base pay is $235,096, with a median of $231,000 and a range from $210,000 to $252,000. The largest employer of this title in Austin is SUPREME COURT.
How Austin compares for the JUSTICE role
Across all of Texas state government, the average base pay for the JUSTICE classification is $227,060, calculated from 50 employees in 6+ agencies statewide. In Austin specifically the average sits at $235,096, which runs about 4% above the statewide figure for this role — a difference of $8,036 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 JUSTICE role pays about 91% 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 JUSTICE hub.
Within Austin, the JUSTICE classification appears at 3 different state employers: SUPREME COURT, THIRD COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT, FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS. The single largest employer is SUPREME COURT, which accounts for 8 of the 13 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 Justices in Austin by pay
| Name | Agency | Annual pay | Hire date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debra Lehrmann | SUPREME COURT | $252,000 | June 21, 2010 |
| Jane Bland | SUPREME COURT | $252,000 | September 11, 2019 |
| Rebeca Huddle | SUPREME COURT | $252,000 | October 30, 2020 |
| John Devine | SUPREME COURT | $252,000 | January 1, 2013 |
| Justin Busby | SUPREME COURT | $252,000 | March 20, 2019 |
| Scott Field | FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS | $246,000 | September 1, 2024 |
| Evan Young | SUPREME COURT | $231,000 | November 10, 2021 |
| Karin Samman | THIRD COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT | $231,000 | January 1, 2025 |
| Gisela Triana | THIRD COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT | $231,000 | January 1, 2019 |
| April Farris | FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS | $225,500 | September 1, 2024 |
| Chari Kelly | THIRD COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT | $211,750 | January 1, 2019 |
| Kyle Hawkins | SUPREME COURT | $210,000 | October 27, 2025 |
| James Sullivan | SUPREME COURT | $210,000 | January 7, 2025 |
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 JUSTICE 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 JUSTICE role pays in other Texas cities, the JUSTICE 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.