Chefs and Head Cooks in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,240
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$8,840
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,614
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$56,080
Kept after tax
$47,240
Worth in national money
$48,614
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for chefs and head cooks. The middle earner takes $56,080, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 10.23% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 241.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $56,080 the take-home is $47,240, which is worth about $48,614 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $59,350, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 41 of 51 for chefs and head cooks, with a median of $56,080 — about 10.23% 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.
- In Texas's occupational distribution, chefs and head cooks sits at 241 of 493 — 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.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for chefs and head cooks on its $56,080 median: $47,240 retained after tax becomes $48,614 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $59,350 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 | $31,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,290 |
| This salary | $56,080 |
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 Texas | $47,240 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $47,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,950 |
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 | $56,080 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,798 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Texas earn less than $56,080. The published range is $31,380 up to $92,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $47,240, worked from $56,080. 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 241 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,614, the adjusted value of that $56,080 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 241 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for chefs and head cooks in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,380 to $92,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $47,240, on $56,080 for work ranking 241 of 493 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 241 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $48,614 — the adjusted value of that $56,080 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 241 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $59,350, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,380 at the bottom tenth to $92,290 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,614 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $47,240 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas 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 Texas is $59,350. 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 ($31,380) and the ninetieth ($92,290) 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?
Texas'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 $48,614 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?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $47,240 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.