Bartenders in Vermont

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,433
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$8,017
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,736
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$45,450
Kept after tax
$37,433
Worth in national money
$38,736
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Vermont pays bartenders a middle wage of $45,450, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 32.35% above the national middle.
- Against 453 occupations Vermont publishes, bartenders lands at 383. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Vermont is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,450 the take-home is $37,433; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,736 would nationally. The average comes to $51,780, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Vermont's median for bartenders is $45,450, about 32.35% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Vermont, this work ranks 383 of 453 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.
- Post-tax income for bartenders in Vermont, on $45,450, is $37,433 — equivalent to $38,736 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $51,780 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,400 |
| This salary | $45,450 |
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 Vermont | $37,433 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,699 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,088 |
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 | $43,874 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,316 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,450 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,970 and the ninetieth is $91,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,433 take-home in Vermont comes from $45,450. 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 383 of 453.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,736, the adjusted value of that $45,450 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 383 of 453 in the state.
- The Vermont median of $45,450 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,970 to $91,400. 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 $37,433, from $45,450, assumes a single Vermont 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 383 of 453 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $38,736 — the adjusted value of that $45,450 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 383 of 453 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 $51,780, 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 $29,970 at the bottom tenth to $91,400 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. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,736 in national terms.
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; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $37,433.
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 Vermont is $51,780. 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 ($29,970) and the ninetieth ($91,400) 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?
Vermont'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 $38,736 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 $37,433 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.