Cooks, Fast Food in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,462
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$3,758
12.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,876
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$30,220
Kept after tax
$26,462
Worth in national money
$29,876
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Dakota pays cooks, fast food around $30,220 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 460 occupations North Dakota publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 453. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,220 you keep $26,462 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $29,876 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cooks, fast food the North Dakota median is $30,220, ranking 26 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within North Dakota, this work ranks 453 of 460 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 in North Dakota is $26,462 after the full tax stack, from $30,220. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $29,876 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,480 |
| This salary | $30,220 |
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 North Dakota | $26,462 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,462 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,645 |
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 | $30,220 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,199 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,220 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,060 and the ninetieth is $38,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $26,462, from $30,220, 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 453 of 460 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,876 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 453.
- The North Dakota median of $30,220 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,060 to $38,480. 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 North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,462 from $30,220. 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 453 of 460 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,876, worked from $30,220, 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 North Dakota address, on work sitting at 453 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $31,850, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $23,060 at the tenth percentile, $38,480 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $29,876.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,462 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 North Dakota is $31,850. 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 ($23,060 to $38,480) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $29,876 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 $26,462 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.