Cooks, Fast Food in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,587
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,183
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,490
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$35,770
Kept after tax
$29,587
Worth in national money
$27,490
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New York is one of the better-paying states for cooks, fast food. The middle earner takes $35,770, which ranks 11 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 15.8% above the national middle.
- Against 493 occupations New York publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 482. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $35,770 the take-home is $29,587. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $27,490 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $36,800, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New York ranks 11 of 51 states publishing a median for cooks, fast food, at $35,770 — about 15.8% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within New York, this work ranks 482 of 493 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $29,587 for cooks, fast food, from $35,770. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,490. ⚠️ 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 $36,800 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 | $32,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,250 |
| This salary | $35,770 |
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 York | $29,587 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,330 |
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 | $34,109 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,237 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,770 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,770 and the ninetieth is $40,250 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $29,587, worked from $35,770. 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 482 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,490 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 482.
- The New York median of $35,770 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,770 to $40,250. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New York take-home of $29,587, on $35,770 for work ranking 482 of 493 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 482 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,490, worked from $35,770, 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 New York address, on work sitting at 482 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,770 and the top tenth $40,250, so most people doing this work in New York sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $27,490 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New York's own levy, $29,587 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,770 to $40,250) 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 York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,490 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 $29,587 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.