Chefs and Head Cooks in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,302
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$10,078
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,931
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$62,380
Kept after tax
$52,302
Worth in national money
$53,931
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Nevada sits in the middle of the pack for chefs and head cooks. The median is $62,380, ranking 24 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Chefs and head cooks ranks 221 among 485 occupations Nevada publishes pay for.
- Here is where Nevada does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,380 you keep $52,302, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $53,931 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $67,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Nevada occupies the middle band for chefs and head cooks: a median of $62,380, ranking 24 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 221 of 485 in Nevada places chefs and head cooks in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Nevada income tax, retained pay for chefs and head cooks on $62,380 is $52,302. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $53,931 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $67,380 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 | $36,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,980 |
| This salary | $62,380 |
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 Nevada | $52,302 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,302 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$108 |
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 | $62,380 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$131 |
| 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 Nevada earn under $62,380 and half over. The published range runs $36,410 at the tenth percentile to $100,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $52,302 take-home in Nevada comes from $62,380. 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 221 of 485.
- Two cautions on $53,931, the adjusted value of that $62,380 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nevada. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 221 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for chefs and head cooks in Nevada, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,410 to $100,980; 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.
- Retained pay of $52,302, from $62,380, assumes a single Nevada 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 221 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 51 for it.
- This $53,931 adjusted figure, worked from $62,380, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 221 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 221 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $67,380 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,410 and the top tenth $100,980 — 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 Nevada sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $53,931 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $52,302 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Nevada is $67,380. 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 ($36,410) and the ninetieth ($100,980) 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?
Nevada'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 $53,931 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $52,302 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.