Chefs and Head Cooks in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,303
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$13,707
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,389
Washington costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Washington — 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
$76,010
Kept after tax
$62,303
Worth in national money
$57,389
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays chefs and head cooks a middle wage of $76,010, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 21.67% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Chefs and head cooks ranks 231 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $76,010, tax leaves $62,303 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $57,389 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $74,670.
- Washington's median for chefs and head cooks is $76,010, about 21.67% above the national figure and 4 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 231 of 493 in Washington 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.
- After tax, $62,303 remains from the Washington median of $76,010 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $57,389 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $74,670 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $49,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,990 |
| This salary | $76,010 |
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 Washington | $62,303 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,303 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,725 |
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 | $76,010 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,289 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,010 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,920 and the ninetieth is $95,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $62,303, from $76,010, 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 231 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,389, the adjusted value of that $76,010 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 231 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $76,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,920 to $95,990. 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 Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,303 from $76,010. 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 231 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $57,389 — the adjusted value of that $76,010 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 231 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $49,920 at the bottom tenth to $95,990 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $57,389 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $62,303 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,920 to $95,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Washington rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Washington's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $57,389 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?
Washington levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $62,303 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.