Cooks, Fast Food in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,149
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$6,901
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,222
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$42,050
Kept after tax
$35,149
Worth in national money
$31,222
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, fast food is strong here. California's middle earner gets $42,050, putting the state 3 of 51 — about 36.13% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 452. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $42,050, tax leaves $35,149 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,222 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $41,490.
- For cooks, fast food, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $42,050, ranking 3 of 51 and running about 36.13% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within California, this work ranks 452 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $35,149 remains from the California median of $42,050 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,222 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $41,490 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,750 |
| This salary | $42,050 |
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 California | $35,149 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,967 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,791 |
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 | $41,032 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,004 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cooks, fast food in California earn under $42,050 and half over. The published range runs $35,750 at the tenth percentile to $48,750 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,149 take-home in California comes from $42,050. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 452 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,222 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 452.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, fast food in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,750 to $48,750; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $35,149, from $42,050, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 452 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,222, worked from $42,050, 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 California address, on work sitting at 452 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,750 at the bottom tenth to $48,750 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $31,222 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,149 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,750 to $48,750) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,222 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 $35,149 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.