Bartenders in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,537
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$5,933
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,438
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$36,470
Kept after tax
$30,537
Worth in national money
$32,438
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays bartenders around $36,470 at the midpoint, 18 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, bartenders lands at 435. 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 $36,470 you keep $30,537 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,438 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bartenders the North Carolina median is $36,470, ranking 18 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 North Carolina, this work ranks 435 of 489 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 North Carolina is $30,537 after the full tax stack, from $36,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,438 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,200 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 | $16,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,450 |
| This salary | $36,470 |
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 North Carolina | $30,537 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,484 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$40 |
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 | $35,292 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$48 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,470 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $16,180 and the ninetieth is $74,450 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,537 take-home in North Carolina comes from $36,470. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 435 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,438, the adjusted value of that $36,470 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 435 of 489 in the state.
- The North Carolina median of $36,470 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $16,180 to $74,450. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,537, from $36,470, assumes a single North Carolina filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 435 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $32,438 — the adjusted value of that $36,470 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 435 of 489 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 $41,200, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $16,180 and the top tenth $74,450 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,438 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $30,537.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 North Carolina is $41,200. 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 ($16,180) and the ninetieth ($74,450) 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?
North Carolina'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 $32,438 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 $30,537 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.