Typical comp shape
Data engineers usually earn rsu + espp. Common employers include Databricks, Snowflake, Fivetran, dbt Labs. Common at data-platform companies where ESPP plus RSU stacking gets meaningful against a volatile enterprise-software share price.
What Texas changes
Texas has no wage income tax, which is structurally favorable for data engineers with meaningful RSU comp. The savings vs a CA-resident colleague can be $30-60k per year at senior IC levels. That math is why Austin and Seattle are the two top relocation destinations for Bay Area tech workers.
Planning cadence
For a data engineer in Texas, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor). A move-out question — if you're considering leaving Texas for a high-tax state, time it around vesting.