Texas arts and culture are a substantial part of the state’s economy and public life. The 2023 State of the Arts Report measured $65.8 billion in arts and cultural economic activity in 2022, while the 2025 State of the Arts Report described nearly 960,000 Texans working in creative careers. The figures below cover the broader arts-and-culture and creative sectors, rather than visual-art venues or individual artists alone.
Contents
- Economic output and compensation
- Employment across core and supporting industries
- Taxable sales and state sales tax
- Creative careers and cultural tourism
- Arts education outcomes
- Arts, culture and well-being
Economic output and compensation
Texas arts and cultural production generated $65.8 billion in gross domestic product in 2022, according to the 2023 State of the Arts Report. That is an economic-output measure for the defined arts-and-cultural-production sector; it is not a count of gallery sales or the market value of visual art alone.
The same 2022 report states that employees in Texas arts and cultural production earned more than $33.6 billion in compensation. Compensation and gross domestic product describe different parts of the sector’s economic footprint, so they should not be added together as a single total.
Arts and cultural production accounted for 3% of total Texas employment in 2022. In context, this percentage describes employment associated with the report’s production framework. The report’s tables define core and supporting industries, so the figure should not be read as the share of Texans whose job title is artist.
These measures give three complementary views of the sector in 2022:
- $65.8 billion in gross domestic product.
- More than $33.6 billion in employee compensation.
- 3% of total Texas employment.
Together, they show why arts statistics can matter to both cultural policy and economic analysis: the sector has output, payroll and employment dimensions, and each answers a different question.
Employment across core and supporting industries
The 2023 report separates employment into core arts and culture industries and supporting arts and culture industries. That distinction is important because supporting industries make up most of the reported jobs. These are industry totals, not unique counts of individual artists.
Employment rose from 372,973 jobs in 2017 to 389,692 in 2018 and 390,598 in 2019. In 2020, the reported total fell to 350,555 jobs. It then reached 374,576 in 2021 and 395,018 in 2022.
| Year | Core industries | Supporting industries | Total production employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 77,291 | 295,682 | 372,973 |
| 2018 | 80,323 | 309,369 | 389,692 |
| 2019 | 83,393 | 307,205 | 390,598 |
| 2020 | 72,113 | 278,442 | 350,555 |
| 2021 | 76,030 | 298,546 | 374,576 |
| 2022 | 83,786 | 311,232 | 395,018 |
The core-industry count was 77,291 jobs in 2017, 80,323 in 2018 and 83,393 in 2019. It was 72,113 in 2020, 76,030 in 2021 and 83,786 in 2022. Supporting-industry employment was 295,682 in 2017, 309,369 in 2018 and 307,205 in 2019; the corresponding figures were 278,442 in 2020, 298,546 in 2021 and 311,232 in 2022.
The 2020 low point appears in both categories: core employment was 72,113 and supporting employment was 278,442. By 2022, the reported total was 395,018 jobs, with 83,786 in core industries and 311,232 in supporting industries. Because the supplied report does not provide a causal explanation for the year-to-year changes, these figures describe the pattern without assigning a cause.
Taxable sales and state sales tax
Texas arts and culture also contributed taxable sales and state sales tax. The 2023 report gives nominal dollar figures for these measures. Taxable sales reached $4,506,001,820 in 2010 and $6,056,028,814 in 2019, before dropping to $4,244,769,441 in 2020. The reported amount then rose to $6,024,337,593 in 2021.
The state’s reported sales-tax contribution followed the same broad pattern: $281,625,114 in 2010, $378,501,801 in 2019, $265,298,090 in 2020 and $376,521,100 in 2021.
Selected years show the relationship between the two measures:
| Year | Taxable sales | State sales tax |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | $4,506,001,820 | $281,625,114 |
| 2013 | $5,095,599,168 | $318,474,948 |
| 2016 | $5,552,780,913 | $347,048,807 |
| 2019 | $6,056,028,814 | $378,501,801 |
| 2020 | $4,244,769,441 | $265,298,090 |
| 2021 | $6,024,337,593 | $376,521,100 |
The complete reported progression includes taxable sales of $4,669,233,785 in 2011, $4,905,152,939 in 2012, $5,348,470,734 in 2014, $5,509,355,953 in 2015, $5,597,128,658 in 2017 and $5,737,511,231 in 2018. State sales tax for those years was $291,827,112, $306,572,059, $334,279,421, $344,334,747, $349,820,541 and $358,594,452, respectively.
These are source-reported nominal amounts. They are useful for describing the reported tax base and contribution over time, but they are not inflation-adjusted comparisons. They also do not represent all economic activity connected to culture, since the measures specifically concern taxable sales and state sales tax within the report’s definitions.
Creative careers and cultural tourism
The 2025 State of the Arts Report reports that nearly 960,000 people in Texas were employed in creative careers. It characterizes creative careers as 1 in 14 Texas jobs. These figures use the 2025 report’s creative-sector framing, which is broader than the core and supporting employment tables above.
The 2025 report also says the Texas arts and culture industry had grown by 63% during its comparison period. The report excerpt does not restate the base and endpoint years for that comparison, so 63% should not be treated as a growth rate measured from a specified year to 2025.
Cultural tourism is another reported part of the picture. One in four Texas visitors participated in cultural tourism, according to the 2025 report. This is a visitor-participation measure, not a statement that one-quarter of all Texas residents attended a cultural event. The geography is Texas, while the population being described is visitors.
Taken together, the workforce and tourism indicators connect cultural activity with both employment and travel. They also illustrate why definitions and populations matter: “creative careers,” “arts and cultural production,” and “cultural tourism participants” are related but distinct groups.
Arts education outcomes
The 2025 Texas arts report describes several education associations for students highly engaged in the arts. Students in that group were up to 46% more likely to pass Texas Success Initiative criteria. They were also 2 times as likely to meet Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam criteria and 20% more likely to earn college dual-credit achievements.
| Reported student outcome | Association cited in the 2025 report |
|---|---|
| Passing Texas Success Initiative criteria | Up to 46% more likely |
| Meeting AP or IB exam criteria | 2 times as likely |
| Earning college dual-credit achievements | 20% more likely |
These percentages summarize cited studies rather than presenting a new Texas-wide experiment. The underlying populations and study dates vary, so the measures should be read as reported associations. “Up to 46% more likely” is a reported upper-end association, not a guarantee for every student highly engaged in the arts.
The outcomes also use different educational benchmarks. Texas Success Initiative criteria, AP or IB exam criteria, and college dual-credit achievements are not interchangeable measures of performance. Their value here is in showing the range of outcomes associated with arts engagement in the cited research, while preserving the limits stated by the 2025 report.
Arts, culture and well-being
The 2025 report cites research on cultural participation and health-related outcomes. It says that one cultural event per month was associated with a 60% decrease in cortisol. It also cites an association between one cultural event per month and a 48% lower risk of developing depression.
For dementia, the report cites research associating community cultural engagement every few months or more with a 47% lower risk of developing dementia. The frequency in this measure differs from the monthly participation described for cortisol and depression, so the three findings should not be combined into one general participation threshold.
These are reported associations from cited research, not causal Texas-wide estimates. The 2025 report notes that the underlying populations and study dates vary. Accordingly, the findings do not establish that attending a specific number of cultural events will produce a particular health outcome for every Texas resident.
For readers using Texas arts statistics to understand contemporary art and culture, the practical takeaway is definitional as much as numerical. Economic output, compensation, production employment, creative careers, taxable sales, visitor participation, student outcomes and health associations measure different dimensions. Keeping their periods, populations and limitations visible makes the statistics more useful for comparing the state’s cultural landscape.