Cooks, Fast Food in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,205
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$3,695
12.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,330
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$29,900
Kept after tax
$26,205
Worth in national money
$25,330
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, fast food. The median is $29,900, ranking 29 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Florida, this one sits low: 487 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $29,900 the take-home is $26,205. But Florida costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $25,330 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $32,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Florida occupies the middle band for cooks, fast food: a median of $29,900, ranking 29 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.
- Cooks, fast food occupies position 487 of 493 in Florida'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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Florida income tax is $26,205 for cooks, fast food, from $29,900. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $25,330. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $32,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,400 |
| This salary | $29,900 |
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 Florida | $26,205 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,205 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,636 |
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 | $29,900 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,965 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
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 Florida earn under $29,900 and half over. The published range runs $27,460 at the tenth percentile to $41,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Florida the take-home figure of $26,205, from $29,900, 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 487 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $25,330, the adjusted value of that $29,900 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. 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 487 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, fast food in Florida, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,460 to $41,400; 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.
- Take-home for Florida is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,205 from $29,900. 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 487 of 493 locally.
- This $25,330 adjusted figure, worked from $29,900, 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 487 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 487 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $32,230, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,460 and the top tenth $41,400, so most people doing this work in Florida sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Florida run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $25,330 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $26,205 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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.
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 Florida is $32,230. 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 ($27,460 to $41,400) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $25,330 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?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $26,205 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.