Chefs and Head Cooks in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,531
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$12,329
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,852
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$63,860
Kept after tax
$51,531
Worth in national money
$52,852
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for chefs and head cooks. The median is $63,860, ranking 18 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 198 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,860, tax leaves $51,531, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $52,852 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $67,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for chefs and head cooks: a median of $63,860, ranking 18 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 198 of 492 in Pennsylvania 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for chefs and head cooks — median $63,860 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $51,531 retained, $52,852 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $67,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Chefs and Head Cooks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,830 |
| This salary | $63,860 |
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 Pennsylvania | $51,531 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,492 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,194 |
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 | $61,420 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,654 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $63,860 and half over. The published range runs $39,040 at the tenth percentile to $95,830 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $51,531, from $63,860, 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 198 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,852, the adjusted value of that $63,860 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 198 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for chefs and head cooks in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,040 to $95,830; 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.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,531 from $63,860. 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 198 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $52,852 — the adjusted value of that $63,860 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 198 of 492 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 $67,890 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 $39,040 and the top tenth $95,830 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $52,852 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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $51,531.
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 Pennsylvania is $67,890. 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 ($39,040) and the ninetieth ($95,830) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $52,852 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 $51,531 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.