Cooks, Fast Food in New Hampshire
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,187
after federal, FICA and New Hampshire tax
Tax takes
$5,403
14.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,503
New Hampshire costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Hampshire — 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
$38,590
Kept after tax
$33,187
Worth in national money
$31,503
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Hampshire pays cooks, fast food a middle wage of $38,590, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 24.93% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in New Hampshire, this one sits low: 443 of 488 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $38,590, tax leaves $33,187 — and because New Hampshire is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,503 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Hampshire's median for cooks, fast food is $38,590, about 24.93% above the national figure and 5 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 443 of 488 in New Hampshire'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.
- After tax, $33,187 remains from the New Hampshire median of $38,590 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,503 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,390 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 | $35,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,930 |
| This salary | $38,590 |
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 New Hampshire | $33,187 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,187 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,649 |
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 | $38,590 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,203 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
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 New Hampshire earn under $38,590 and half over. The published range runs $35,720 at the tenth percentile to $45,930 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New Hampshire the take-home figure of $33,187, from $38,590, 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 443 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $31,503, the adjusted value of that $38,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Hampshire. 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 443 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, fast food in New Hampshire, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,720 to $45,930; 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 New Hampshire is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $33,187 from $38,590. 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 443 of 488 locally.
- This $31,503 adjusted figure, worked from $38,590, 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 443 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 443 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,390, 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 $35,720 at the bottom tenth to $45,930 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 New Hampshire run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $31,503 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $33,187 of this wage reaches your account, because New Hampshire 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?
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 New Hampshire is $40,390. 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 ($35,720 to $45,930) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Hampshire rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Hampshire's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,503 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?
New Hampshire levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $33,187 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.