Chefs and Head Cooks in New Hampshire
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,122
after federal, FICA and New Hampshire tax
Tax takes
$10,278
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,427
New Hampshire costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Hampshire — 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
$63,400
Kept after tax
$53,122
Worth in national money
$50,427
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Hampshire is 20 of 51 states for chefs and head cooks, with a middle wage of $63,400. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations New Hampshire reports figures for, this is number 229.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $63,400 the take-home is $53,122. But New Hampshire costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $50,427 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $66,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Hampshire ranks 20 of 51 for chefs and head cooks at $63,400. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In New Hampshire's occupational distribution, chefs and head cooks sits at 229 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Hampshire income tax is $53,122 for chefs and head cooks, from $63,400. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,427. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $66,530 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 | $40,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,990 |
| This salary | $63,400 |
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 New Hampshire | $53,122 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,122 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,240 |
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 | $63,400 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,127 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Hampshire earn less than $63,400. The published range is $40,220 up to $95,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Hampshire the take-home figure of $53,122, from $63,400, 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 229 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,427, the adjusted value of that $63,400 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Hampshire. 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 229 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for chefs and head cooks in New Hampshire the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,220 to $95,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Hampshire is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,122 from $63,400. 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 229 of 488 locally.
- This $50,427 adjusted figure, worked from $63,400, 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 229 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 229 of 488 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 $66,530 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $40,220 at the bottom tenth to $95,990 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $50,427 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $53,122 of this wage reaches your account, because New Hampshire takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 New Hampshire is $66,530. 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 ($40,220) and the ninetieth ($95,990) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Hampshire's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $50,427 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
New Hampshire levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $53,122 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.