Chefs and Head Cooks in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,140
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$13,130
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,767
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$63,270
Kept after tax
$50,140
Worth in national money
$49,767
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays chefs and head cooks around $63,270 at the midpoint, 21 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Chefs and head cooks ranks 215 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,270, tax leaves $50,140, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $49,767 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $65,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- For chefs and head cooks the Virginia median is $63,270, ranking 21 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 215 of 489 in Virginia 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 Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for chefs and head cooks — median $63,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $50,140 retained, $49,767 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $65,320 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chefs and Head Cooks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,470 |
| This salary | $63,270 |
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 Virginia | $50,140 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,017 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,791 |
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 | $59,689 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,795 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $63,270. The published range is $43,010 up to $90,470, 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 Virginia's $50,140, worked from $63,270. 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 215 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,767 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 215.
- Reported values are medians; for chefs and head cooks in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $43,010 to $90,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $50,140, on $63,270 for work ranking 215 of 489 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 215 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,767, worked from $63,270, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Virginia address, on work sitting at 215 of 489 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 $65,320 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 $43,010 and the top tenth $90,470 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $49,767 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $50,140.
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 Virginia is $65,320. 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 ($43,010) and the ninetieth ($90,470) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $49,767 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,140 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.