Cooks, Fast Food in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,467
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$4,493
13.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,970
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$33,960
Kept after tax
$29,467
Worth in national money
$28,970
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Alaska pays cooks, fast food a middle wage of $33,960, ranking 16 of 51 states and sitting about 9.94% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Alaska, this one sits low: 422 of 430 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $33,960 the take-home is $29,467, which is worth about $28,970 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $34,320, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska's median for cooks, fast food is $33,960, about 9.94% above the national figure and 16 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.
- Cooks, fast food occupies position 422 of 430 in Alaska's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cooks, fast food on its $33,960 median: $29,467 retained after tax becomes $28,970 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $34,320 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,760 |
| This salary | $33,960 |
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 Alaska | $29,467 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,467 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,353 |
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 | $33,960 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,637 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,960 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,160 and the ninetieth is $37,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $29,467, worked from $33,960. 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 422 of 430.
- Two cautions on $28,970, the adjusted value of that $33,960 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 422 of 430 locally.
- The Alaska median of $33,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,160 to $37,760. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alaska take-home of $29,467, on $33,960 for work ranking 422 of 430 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 422 of 430 in the state.
- This $28,970 adjusted figure, worked from $33,960, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 422 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 422 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,160 at the tenth percentile, $37,760 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $28,970 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $29,467 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska 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?
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,160 to $37,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,970 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?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $29,467 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.