The Top Occupations in Texas 150 Years Ago are Surprising

For as long as humans have existed in Texas and the rest of the world, we have had jobs. Now, in the very beginning, people may not have been paid by means of money for said jobs, and the so-called workforce of the early days likely looked a lot different. But, we still share that same commonality of having a job, or task, to fulfill to keep things running smoothly.

Just think what the world would be like if no one had any job and just sat around all day. Chaos.

How do jobs differ today from the past?

150 years ago the most common jobs in Texas were, kind of, what you'd expect. A list compiled by Stacker shows that there were, of course, an abundance of farmers, laborers, carpenters, and traders in Texas -- among some other occupations you may not have thought about.

During this time, the #1 occupation was Agricultural laborers and #2 was farmers and planters. While these are still significant occupations in Texas, the current Ag Census shows a decline in Texas farmland.

In fact, according to USA Wage, no occupation in the agricultural field is even in the top 10 most common jobs in Texas.

So what are the top 10 occupations in Texas today?

As listed by USA Wage, these are the top 10 jobs in Texas: 

1. General and occupational managers
2. Fast food and counter workers
3. Customer service representatives
4. retail salesperson
5. Home health and personal care aids
6. Cashiers
7. Stockers and order fillers
8. Registered nurses
9. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers

Some of these are still similar to the top jobs 150 years ago, but more has changed than you'd expect. So let's take a look at some of the most common jobs back then: