Cooks, Fast Food in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,715
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$3,155
11.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,830
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$26,870
Kept after tax
$23,715
Worth in national money
$25,830
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Ohio pays cooks, fast food a middle wage of $26,870, 46 of 51 states and about 13.01% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Ohio this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, fast food ranks 494. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Ohio does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $26,870 you keep $23,715, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $25,830 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $27,860, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Ohio's $26,870 median for cooks, fast food places it 46 of 51 states, about 13.01% 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 Ohio reports, cooks, fast food ranks 494 of 494, 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.
- After federal, FICA and Ohio income tax, retained pay for cooks, fast food on $26,870 is $23,715. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $25,830 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $27,860 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 | $22,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,570 |
| This salary | $26,870 |
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 Ohio | $23,715 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,737 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,402 |
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 | $26,843 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,655 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Ohio earn less than $26,870. The published range is $22,500 up to $35,570, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $23,715 take-home in Ohio comes from $26,870. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 494 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $25,830 uses one figure for the whole of Ohio. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 494.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, fast food in Ohio the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $22,500 to $35,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $23,715, from $26,870, assumes a single Ohio filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 494 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $25,830, worked from $26,870, 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 Ohio address, on work sitting at 494 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $27,860 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,500 at the tenth percentile, $35,570 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Ohio is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $25,830 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; Ohio then takes its own share, leaving $23,715.
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 Ohio is $27,860. 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 ($22,500 to $35,570) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $25,830 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 $23,715 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.