Houston, TX Surgical Tech Jobs

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Houston, TX
Surgical Tech Jobs in Houston

Scrub tech, OR tech, and certified surgical technologist openings across the Texas Medical Center and the wider Houston metro, one of the densest surgical hiring markets in the country. New postings appear in the job list on this page; the sections below cover the employers actually hiring, what the metro pays, and how Texas certification gets checked at hire.

Curated by Matthew Sorensen, an executive recruiter with 15+ years and 500+ healthcare and skilled-trades placements, including OR and perioperative roles. The hiring notes here come from screening surgical techs for real openings, not from a template.

Where Surgical Techs Work in Houston

The Texas Medical Center makes Houston unusual: several of the metro's largest OR employers sit inside a few square miles, alongside county safety-net hospitals, a children's hospital, and HCA's outpatient network. A few worth knowing:

Houston Methodist Hospital
A large academic-affiliated system inside the Texas Medical Center with a broad, high-volume OR case mix across service lines.
Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center
Home to a Level I trauma center, so a wide range of emergent and complex cases and, in my experience, a system set up to onboard newer techs off clinicals.
Baylor St. Luke's & Texas Children's
Two more TMC anchors. Texas Children's runs a pediatric OR, which is a distinct skill set; if that's your target, expect specialty-specific screening rather than a general scrub interview.
Ben Taub & MD Anderson
Ben Taub is the county Level I trauma hospital; MD Anderson is a dedicated cancer center with heavily surgical-oncology caseloads, another specialty track worth naming on your resume.
HCA Houston Healthcare
Hospitals plus outpatient surgery centers across the metro, a steady source of both hospital-OR and ambulatory scrub roles at varying pace and call.

A hospital OR and a same-day surgery center are different jobs in pay, pace, and call. Understand the trade-off before you pick: ASC vs. hospital OR surgical tech work.

What Surgical Techs Earn in Houston

01
$62,640 mean annual (Houston metro)
Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Houston metro area. That sits above the national median for surgical techs, which tracks with the volume the Texas Medical Center pulls in.
02
$37,520 to $85,660 range
10th to 90th percentile. The spread is wide because Houston runs everything from entry-level ASC roles to specialty and trauma work; the top end reflects experienced techs in call-heavy or high-acuity settings.
03
What moves you up the range
Experience, whether you hold the CST, hospital vs. surgery center, specialty (CVOR, trauma, transplant, peds), and shift differentials. In a market this deep, a named specialty is one of the fastest ways to move off the floor of the range.

For a figure tuned to your setting and specialty, run the surgical tech salary estimator or read the full salary guide.

Certification for Houston Roles

Most Houston hospitals expect the CST credential through the NBSTSA, or graduation from a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program, and the first thing I check on any file is whether that certification is current, since an expired credential stalls an otherwise strong candidate. For the exact Texas statute and how it applies to you, see surgical tech state requirements.

Houston Surgical Tech FAQ

Do I need to be certified to work as a surgical tech in Houston?
Most hospitals here expect the CST or graduation from an accredited surgical technology program before you scrub in, and a current credential matters as much as having one. The exact requirement is set by Texas law and the individual employer.
Is the Texas Medical Center a good place to start as a new grad?
It can be. The academic and trauma hospitals in the TMC generally run the training pipelines that make them the most set up to hire techs straight out of clinicals. See the guide on getting hired as a new-grad surgical tech.
Does a surgery center or a hospital pay more in Houston?
Neither wins automatically. Hospitals often pay more once call and shift differentials are counted; surgery centers trade some of that for daytime hours and lighter call. With HCA and the TMC both hiring, Houston has real volume on both sides, so compare the specific offer against your schedule.

Related Pages

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