Bartenders in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,724
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$4,456
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,464
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$30,180
Kept after tax
$25,724
Worth in national money
$28,464
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Nebraska pays bartenders around $30,180 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Nebraska publishes, bartenders lands at 478. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,180 you keep $25,724 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,464 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,350, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bartenders the Nebraska median is $30,180, ranking 26 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Nebraska, this work ranks 478 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Nebraska is $25,724 after the full tax stack, from $30,180. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,464 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,350 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,140 |
| This salary | $30,180 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Nebraska | $25,724 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,430 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,266 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $29,302 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,531 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Nebraska earn less than $30,180. The published range is $28,080 up to $60,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Nebraska the take-home figure of $25,724, from $30,180, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 478 of 488 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nebraska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,464, the adjusted value of that $30,180 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 478 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bartenders in Nebraska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,080 to $60,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Nebraska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,724 from $30,180. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 478 of 488 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nebraska, so $28,464 — the adjusted value of that $30,180 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 478 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $38,350, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $28,080 at the bottom tenth to $60,140 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Nebraska is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,464 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Nebraska adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,724 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Nebraska is $38,350. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($28,080) and the ninetieth ($60,140) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $28,464 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,724 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.