Chefs and Head Cooks in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,459
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$11,551
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,819
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$57,010
Kept after tax
$45,459
Worth in national money
$46,819
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is among the lower-paying states for chefs and head cooks. The middle earner takes $57,010, ranking 40 of 51 states — about 8.74% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Maine, this sits in the middle: 271 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $57,010 the take-home is $45,459, which is worth about $46,819 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $61,540, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 40 of 51 for chefs and head cooks, with a median of $57,010 — about 8.74% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Chefs and head cooks ranks 271 of 484 occupations in Maine by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for chefs and head cooks on its $57,010 median: $45,459 retained after tax becomes $46,819 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $61,540 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chefs and Head Cooks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,120 |
| This salary | $57,010 |
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 Maine | $45,459 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,988 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,564 |
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 | $53,864 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,101 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of chefs and head cooks in Maine earn under $57,010 and half over. The published range runs $48,430 at the tenth percentile to $81,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $45,459, worked from $57,010. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 271 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,819 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 271.
- Figures are distribution medians for chefs and head cooks in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,430 to $81,120; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Maine take-home of $45,459, on $57,010 for work ranking 271 of 484 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 271 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,819, worked from $57,010, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 271 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $61,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,430 at the bottom tenth to $81,120 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $46,819 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $45,459 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 Maine is $61,540. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,430 to $81,120) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $46,819 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 $45,459 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.