Cooks, Fast Food in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,412
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$5,568
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,366
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$34,980
Kept after tax
$29,412
Worth in national money
$28,366
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Connecticut pays cooks, fast food a middle wage of $34,980, ranking 13 of 51 states and sitting about 13.24% above the national middle.
- Against 482 occupations Connecticut publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 475. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $34,980, tax leaves $29,412 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,366 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $36,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- Connecticut's median for cooks, fast food is $34,980, about 13.24% above the national figure and 13 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.
- Within Connecticut, this work ranks 475 of 482 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, $29,412 remains from the Connecticut median of $34,980 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,366 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $36,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,640 |
| This salary | $34,980 |
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 Connecticut | $29,412 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,286 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,801 |
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 | $33,892 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,388 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Connecticut earn less than $34,980. The published range is $34,010 up to $42,640, 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 Connecticut's $29,412, worked from $34,980. 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 475 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,366 uses one figure for the whole of Connecticut. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 482 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 475.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, fast food in Connecticut the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,010 to $42,640. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Connecticut take-home of $29,412, on $34,980 for work ranking 475 of 482 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 475 of 482 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,366, worked from $34,980, 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 Connecticut address, on work sitting at 475 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $36,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,010 at the bottom tenth to $42,640 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Connecticut costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,366 rather than its face figure.
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 Connecticut adds its own income tax on top — which is why $29,412 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.
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 Connecticut is $36,360. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,010 to $42,640) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,366 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 $29,412 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.