Chefs and Head Cooks in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,552
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$12,888
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,382
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$65,440
Kept after tax
$52,552
Worth in national money
$54,382
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for chefs and head cooks. The middle earner takes $65,440, which ranks 13 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 4.75% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 189 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Vermont is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $65,440 the take-home is $52,552; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,382 would nationally. The average comes to $68,130, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Vermont ranks 13 of 51 states publishing a median for chefs and head cooks, at $65,440 — about 4.75% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Chefs and head cooks ranks 189 of 453 occupations in Vermont 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.
- Post-tax income for chefs and head cooks in Vermont, on $65,440, is $52,552 — equivalent to $54,382 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $68,130 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $48,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,040 |
| This salary | $65,440 |
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 Vermont | $52,552 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,761 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,971 |
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 | $62,691 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,383 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $65,440 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,950 and the ninetieth is $83,040 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $52,552, from $65,440, 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 189 of 453 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,382, the adjusted value of that $65,440 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 189 of 453 in the state.
- The Vermont median of $65,440 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,950 to $83,040. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $52,552 from $65,440. 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 189 of 453 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $54,382 — the adjusted value of that $65,440 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 189 of 453 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 $68,130 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,950 and the top tenth $83,040, so most people doing this work in Vermont sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,382 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; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $52,552.
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 Vermont is $68,130. 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 ($48,950 to $83,040) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $54,382 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 $52,552 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.