Selling Gold in Houston, TX: Tax, Layoffs & the 22-Karat Trade

Two things set Houston apart for anyone selling gold: Texas taxes almost nothing on the transaction, and a big share of the metal that walks in is 22-karat jewelry from the city's South Asian trade, not the 14k the general US market runs on. Know both before you sell.

Texas takes almost nothing on the sale

This is the structural advantage over most states. Texas exempts gold, silver, and platinum from state sales and use tax under Texas Tax Code § 151.336, and since House Bill 78 took effect on October 1, 2013, there is no minimum purchase threshold. Before then the exemption only applied above $1,000; now it applies at any amount.

Two caveats that matter at the counter. First, the statute names gold, silver, and platinum only. Palladium is not listed, so if you bring palladium items the exemption does not cover them, and the base state sales tax is 6.25% plus local add-ons up to 2%. Second, the exemption is about the transaction, not your profit. Texas has no state income tax, which means no state capital-gains layer on a metals sale. Federal rules still apply to your gains; that part does not change because you are in Houston.

One point of local pride that is often stated loosely: the Texas Bullion Depository, established by HB 483 and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 12, 2015, is the only state-run depository in the US. It is physically in Leander, north of Austin — not Houston. If someone tells you there is a state vault in town, they are wrong. It has no bearing on where or how you sell scrap or coins here.

The 22-karat market changes what your gold is worth

Houston has a named gold district: the Mahatma Gandhi District, which locals call Harwin after Harwin Drive, or occasionally Little India. It is built around Indian and Pakistani restaurants and shops, and gold jewelry is one of its defining trades. Long-established stores set the tone — Karat 22 has been there since 1985, and Kirti Jewelers, Gehna 22kt Jewelers, and Krishna Jewellers all specialize in 22-karat pieces.

This matters for money. Most US retail jewelry is 14k (58.3% gold) or 18k (75%). A 22-karat piece is 91.6% gold, so it carries far more metal per gram and is worth proportionally more as scrap. A buyer who quotes you as if everything is 14k, or who lumps 22k in with a generic "gold" rate, is underpaying you. Ask which karat the buyer is testing to, and make sure the weight and the karat on the quote match what your piece actually is. If you have bridal or heavy 22k jewelry, that distinction is the difference between a fair number and a bad one. Our notes on selling gold jewelry and how scrap gold is priced by purity are worth reading first.

The scale behind this trade is real. The Kinder Institute at Rice University reports Houston's metro area has 655,000 Asian residents, about 9% of the region, with Asian Indians now the largest share of that group. At the city level, Houston's own data lists 29,536 Asian Indian residents out of 136,624 total Asian residents. That is a deep, ongoing supply of 22k metal changing hands — and enough competing buyers that you should get more than one quote.

The energy cycle, and what the layoffs do and don't tell you

Houston's economy is oil-weighted. As of 2020, energy drove roughly a third of regional GDP and directly employed about a quarter million workers, which is why local selling behavior tends to move with the energy cycle. The busts are well documented. In the 2015–16 downturn, a University of Houston forecast projected 40,000 net job losses through 2017; Halliburton cut 14,000 jobs and Baker Hughes cut 13,000.

The cycle is still live. In February, Chevron announced plans to cut about 20% of its global workforce, affecting some 1,200 employees in Houston. ConocoPhillips, also Houston-based, said it would cut 20 to 25% of its global staff — as many as 3,000 jobs. The Greater Houston Partnership warned that falling crude prices could cost the city about 3,200 oil-and-gas jobs in 2026.

Here is the honest part: those layoff numbers are solid, but we found no Houston-specific data proving they push more gold across the counter. The idea that people sell metal when the energy cycle turns is reasonable inference, not a measured local fact, so treat it that way. What it should tell you as a seller is practical: if a downturn has you selling, that same downturn thins out the buyers with cash to spend, so shop your metal harder. Get the karat confirmed, weigh it yourself, and compare against the live gold price before you accept anything.

If you are comparing metros, the city guides cover the tax and buyer picture elsewhere — Dallas shares the Texas exemption, while Atlanta and Miami do not.

This page is informational. Figures and rules cited are accurate as of the review date above and can change.

Last reviewed August 2, 2026.