How much does a first-time surrogate earn in Texas?
A first-time gestational surrogate in Texas matched through Private Label Surrogacy receives base compensation of $60,000 (proposed, up from $55,000). An experienced surrogate, one who has completed a surrogacy before, receives $65,000 to $70,000. With allowances and milestone payments, the typical total package is roughly $68,000 to $78,000.
PLS publishes the total package first because base compensation alone understates what you receive. Every PLS figure on this page is pending final confirmation by Nancy Block, RN, and is marked that way until confirmed.
The base is the same in every state where PLS recruits. A surrogate in Houston receives the same figure as one in Chicago. What changes from state to state is the legal path for the intended parents and where you do your monitoring appointments.
This page is written by Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager. She was a three-time egg donor, then a gestational surrogate who delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016 after a first-transfer success, and she has worked in medicine since 2002.
What is in the full compensation package?
"Typical" means a singleton pregnancy with the usual allowances and milestone payments. Your exact total depends on how long the journey runs, whether you pump after delivery, and your documented lost wages.
| Item | Amount | Trigger | When paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base compensation, first-time | $60,000 (proposed) | Pregnancy confirmed with a heartbeat | In installments through the pregnancy |
| Base compensation, experienced | $65,000 to $70,000 | Pregnancy confirmed with a heartbeat | In installments through the pregnancy |
| Monthly allowance | $300 per month | Contract signing | Monthly |
| Medication start | $500 | Starting injectable medications | At medication start |
| Embryo transfer | $1,000 | Each transfer | At transfer |
| Maternity clothing | $750; $1,000 for multiples | Pregnancy confirmed | Once |
| Housekeeping | $90 per week | From 32 weeks | Weekly |
| Breast milk pumping | $200 per week | If you choose to pump after delivery | Weekly |
| Twins | $5,000 added | Multiple pregnancy confirmed | With base installments |
| Triplets | $10,000 added | Multiple pregnancy confirmed | With base installments |
| Lost wages, you and your partner | Actual documented wages | Journey-related time off | As incurred |
| Life insurance | Extended policy up to $750,000 | Before transfer | Premium paid by intended parents |
Payment triggers and timing: confirm schedule with Nancy.
Travel is paid separately from compensation. The intended parents pay, from escrow, for your flights, hotel, meals, mileage, child care and lost wages for you and a companion when you travel to their clinic.
The package also includes support you would otherwise arrange yourself. Mental-health support comes from independent licensed professionals. Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor, holds at least six nutrition consults with you across the journey. Your own attorney reviews your agreement, and the intended parents pay for that attorney. If your health plan excludes surrogacy, the intended parents buy a dedicated policy for you.
When is each payment made and who holds the money?
You are paid as the journey moves forward, not in a lump sum at the end.
- Contract signing. Your monthly allowance begins.
- Medication start. $500 when you begin injectable medications.
- Embryo transfer. $1,000 for each transfer.
- Confirmed pregnancy. Base compensation begins in installments after a heartbeat is confirmed.
- 32 weeks. Housekeeping support starts.
- After delivery. Final base installment and, if you pump, weekly pumping support.
If a transfer does not result in a pregnancy, you keep the transfer fee, the medication-start payment and the allowance already earned; base compensation is tied to pregnancy.
The money is held by an independent licensed escrow agent, never by PLS. The intended parents fund $10,000 at match and the balance before your medications start. The escrow agent pays you according to your agreement. Before you sign, ask your attorney to confirm the escrow account is funded.
This is your protection if anything goes wrong elsewhere. In late 2025 the Surro Connections agency collapsed, leading to a federal indictment in August 2026, and the SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. In 2025 and 2026, PLS took on three surrogates, pro bono, who were stranded when their agencies failed. See how escrow works.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Texas?
To apply with PLS you must be:
- 21 to 43 years old
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- Someone who has had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and is raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- Living in a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
Screening has seven steps: application, interview, a medical records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Dr. Silverberg reads your prenatal and delivery records himself. Screening takes several weeks once your records arrive.
Where do Texas surrogates do monitoring and transfer?
Texas surrogates matched through PLS do their monitoring at a clinic in Dallas, Houston, Austin or San Antonio. Monitoring means the bloodwork and ultrasounds before transfer and in early pregnancy. You go to a clinic near home, and the intended parents pay for those visits.
For the medical screening and the embryo transfer, you fly to the intended parents' fertility clinic, which may be in another state. A companion can travel with you, and the intended parents cover travel, meals, child care and lost wages through escrow. The pregnancy test comes 9 to 11 days after transfer.
Once you are pregnant and released from the fertility clinic, you see your own OB near home and deliver at a local hospital.
What does Texas law mean for you as a surrogate?
Gestational surrogacy and compensation are legal in Texas. The Texas statute lets a court validate a gestational agreement before the pregnancy, and it requires that the surrogate has given birth before. For married intended parents who use that path, the intended parents are the legal parents at birth. Single and unmarried intended parents use a post-birth route instead.
Confirm the current Texas requirements with Texas counsel; this summary is pending review.
For you, the most important part is that the agreement is signed before any medication starts, with your own attorney reviewing it. Your attorney answers only to you. Read the intended-parent side of the law on surrogacy in Texas.
How to apply with PLS
- Take the eligibility check. It tells you whether you meet the basic criteria above.
- Complete the application and an interview with a PLS case manager.
- Send your records. Dr. Silverberg reads your prenatal and delivery records and writes a physician medical summary for the intended parents' clinic.
- Finish screening: background check, insurance review and the independent psychological evaluation.
- Match. Nancy Block runs matching herself. Matching averages about 6 months and depends on intended-parent demand for your state and profile.
Once matched, your case manager, Natalie or Jenni Symons, stays with you through delivery. Both have been surrogates themselves. Compare the package in other states on the national surrogate compensation page or on surrogate compensation in Illinois.
Sources
- Texas gestational agreement statute, Texas Legislature. Pending review by Texas counsel.