Financial Services · Houston, TX
Houston has 28,400 accountants and auditors paid above the U.S. median, but loan officers, underwriters and claims adjusters are all thin here. Careerscape recruits for Houston employers from a national remote team, with recruiters who specialize in finance and accounting.
Who hires
Houston's finance jobs follow its corporate base more than its banks. These are the groups that generate most finance and accounting searches. Employer names are market context only.
Chevron's principal executive offices are at 1400 Smith Street downtown, and ConocoPhillips is headquartered on North Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor, per their 2025 annual reports. Companies like these employ large accounting, tax, treasury, joint-interest and FP&A groups, which is why Houston's accountants and financial managers are paid at or above the U.S. median.
Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares completed its acquisitions of American Bank in January 2026 and of Southwest Bancshares (Texas Partners Bank), then closed its merger with Houston-based Stellar Bancorp on July 1, 2026. Consolidation moves commercial bankers, credit staff and conversion specialists around the market.
Corebridge Financial, the annuity, life insurance and retirement company spun off from AIG, is headquartered in Houston, and in March 2026 it agreed to combine with Equitable Holdings. Even so, the metro's underwriting and claims benches are small relative to its size.
BLS May 2025
Financial managers are the one finance occupation above the national share here (LQ 1.04, 18,570 jobs, median $166,910). Accountants and auditors are the largest group at 28,400, and they earn a median of $85,090, above the U.S. median of $83,680. Everything tied to consumer lending and insurance is thin: loan officers (LQ 0.59), underwriters (LQ 0.68), credit analysts (LQ 0.74) and, thinnest of all, claims adjusters and examiners (LQ 0.42).
| Occupation | Jobs in metro | Median pay · vs. U.S. | Concentration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial and Investment Analysts | 6,510 | $101,660−1% | 0.85 |
| Accountants and Auditors | 28,400 | $85,090+2% | 0.93 |
| Financial Managers | 18,570 | $166,910±0% | 1.04 |
| Loan Officers | 3,410 | $67,560−12% | 0.59 |
| Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents | 10,140 | $77,550−1% | 0.98 |
| Credit Analysts | 1,010 | $79,280−5% | 0.74 |
| Insurance Underwriters | 1,520 | $77,770−4% | 0.68 |
| Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators | 2,890 | $78,820+1% | 0.42 |
| Personal Financial Advisors | 4,130 | $98,930−6% | 0.73 |
| Compliance Officers | 8,450 | $78,860−2% | 0.96 |
| Actuaries | 390 | $81,670−37% | 0.68 |
Loan officers earn a median of $67,560 in Houston versus $76,690 nationally, and personal financial advisors $98,930 versus $105,070. The actuary figure ($81,670 median, 390 jobs) is far below the U.S. median of $130,000; with so few actuaries in the sample, treat it with caution. Figures are cross-industry metro estimates. Jobs and median annual pay for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metro area, all employers, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025). “Vs. U.S.” compares with the national median. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: above 1.0 means the job makes up a bigger share of local employment than it does nationally.
Accounting talent
The local pipeline is built around energy. The University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business offers an MS in Accountancy and an MS in Finance, and its Gutierrez Energy Management Institute (GEMI) offers energy-focused certificates. That coursework maps to the revenue, joint-interest and commodity-risk accounting seats that energy finance teams hire for.
Two Texas law changes widen the pool. Since September 1, 2025, SB 522 lets a CPA licensed and in good standing in another state practice in Texas without a separate Texas license, if they meet the education, experience and exam requirements and agree to follow Texas law. That makes it simpler to hire a CPA relocating from another state. And since August 1, 2026, the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy's Pathway B lets candidates qualify with a bachelor's degree, 120 semester hours and two years of CPA-supervised experience instead of 150 hours.
Financial activities payrolls in the metro were 176,100 in September 2026, 1.0% lower than a year earlier (BLS, preliminary), so most hiring is replacement rather than growth. For energy, plant and Medical Center hiring, see our Houston staffing guide and the Houston energy recruiting page.
Texas adjusters
With so few adjusters based in the metro, Houston insurers and claims firms often hire people who are not licensed yet. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) sets the route; this is a summary of the course-based path under 28 TAC §19.1017, not legal advice.
TDI's certified course exams cover all-lines, property-casualty-surety and workers' compensation adjuster designations. All-lines is the broadest.
A TDI-certified prelicensing course must meet the 40-hour minimum. Build that time into the onboarding plan.
The course ends with a final exam, and a passing score of 70% earns a certificate of completion.
Roles
Grouped the way Houston searches usually come in. Links go to national pay in our Salary Guide.
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FAQ
Accountants and auditors in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro earned a median of $85,090 in May 2025, above the U.S. median of $83,680, per BLS. The middle half earned between $72,470 and $109,670. The metro had 28,400 of them. See our staff accountant salary guide for national pay by level.
It depends on course and application timing, so plan ahead of peak claims periods. The course-based route needs a TDI-certified prelicensing course of at least 40 hours, a course exam passed with 70%, and then a license application to the Texas Department of Insurance. Many employers bring in already licensed contract adjusters to cover claims volume until new hires are approved.
Prosperity Bancshares completed its merger with Houston-based Stellar Bancorp on July 1, 2026, after closing deals for American Bank in January and Southwest Bancshares (Texas Partners Bank). Our sources do not report specific job cuts. In practice, consolidation tends to put some commercial bankers and credit staff on the market and creates short-term demand for conversion work.
Relative to its size, yes. BLS counted 3,410 loan officers in the metro in May 2025, a location quotient of 0.59, so the job is about 40% less common here than nationally. The median was $67,560, below the U.S. $76,690. Plan to recruit producers from other Texas markets or to train and license people internally.
No. Careerscape is a national, remote recruiting agency with no Houston office. Recruiters who specialize in finance, accounting and banking recruit for Houston employers by phone, video and our Employer Portal. See our accounting and finance recruiting or the financial services overview.
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