Cooks, Fast Food in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,050
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$3,890
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$23,836
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$26,940
Kept after tax
$23,050
Worth in national money
$23,836
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Georgia pays cooks, fast food a middle wage of $26,940, 45 of 51 states and about 12.79% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Georgia this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, fast food ranks 484. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Georgia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $26,940 the take-home is $23,050; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $23,836 would nationally. The average comes to $27,560, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Georgia's $26,940 median for cooks, fast food places it 45 of 51 states, about 12.79% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Georgia reports, cooks, fast food ranks 484 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for cooks, fast food in Georgia, on $26,940, is $23,050 — equivalent to $23,836 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $27,560 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,810 |
| This salary | $26,940 |
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 Georgia | $23,050 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,795 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$650 |
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 | $26,035 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$768 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $26,940 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $20,800 and the ninetieth is $36,810 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Georgia the take-home figure of $23,050, from $26,940, 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 484 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $23,836, the adjusted value of that $26,940 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 484 of 492 in the state.
- The Georgia median of $26,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $20,800 to $36,810. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Georgia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $23,050 from $26,940. 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 484 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $23,836 — the adjusted value of that $26,940 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 484 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $20,800 and the top tenth $36,810, so most people doing this work in Georgia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Georgia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $23,836 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $23,050.
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 ($20,800 to $36,810) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $23,836 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 $23,050 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.