Chefs and Head Cooks in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,250
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$12,050
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,902
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$61,300
Kept after tax
$49,250
Worth in national money
$52,902
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for chefs and head cooks. The median is $61,300, ranking 28 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 236 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,300 you keep $49,250 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,902 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $64,210, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin occupies the middle band for chefs and head cooks: a median of $61,300, ranking 28 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.
- Chefs and head cooks ranks 236 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $49,250 after the full tax stack, from $61,300. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,902 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $64,210 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 | $41,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,570 |
| This salary | $61,300 |
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 Wisconsin | $49,250 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,435 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$28 |
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 | $58,581 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$34 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $61,300. The published range is $41,990 up to $87,570, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $49,250, from $61,300, 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 236 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,902 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 236.
- Reported values are medians; for chefs and head cooks in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,990 to $87,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,250 from $61,300. 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 236 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,902, worked from $61,300, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 236 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $64,210, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $41,990, the highest tenth $87,570, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $52,902.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Wisconsin's own levy, $49,250 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Wisconsin is $64,210. 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 ($41,990) and the ninetieth ($87,570) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $52,902 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 $49,250 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.