Cooks, Fast Food in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,852
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$8,028
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,506
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$37,880
Kept after tax
$29,852
Worth in national money
$28,506
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oregon is one of the better-paying states for cooks, fast food. The middle earner takes $37,880, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 22.63% above the national middle.
- Against 489 occupations Oregon publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 467. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Oregon is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $37,880 the take-home is $29,852; in national-average money that behaves like $28,506. The average comes to $39,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Oregon ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for cooks, fast food, at $37,880 — about 22.63% 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 Oregon, this work ranks 467 of 489 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.
- Take-home for cooks, fast food in Oregon, on $37,880, is $29,852; deflated by the state's price level, $28,506. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $39,310 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 | $31,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,240 |
| This salary | $37,880 |
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 Oregon | $29,852 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,617 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,058 |
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 | $34,440 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,117 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,880 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,610 and the ninetieth is $49,240 — 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 Oregon's $29,852, worked from $37,880. 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 467 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oregon, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,506, the adjusted value of that $37,880 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 467 of 489 in the state.
- The Oregon median of $37,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,610 to $49,240. 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 Oregon take-home of $29,852, on $37,880 for work ranking 467 of 489 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 467 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oregon, so $28,506 — the adjusted value of that $37,880 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 467 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,310, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,610 at the tenth percentile, $49,240 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Oregon run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $28,506 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; Oregon then takes its own share, leaving $29,852.
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 Oregon is $39,310. 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 ($31,610 to $49,240) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,506 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 $29,852 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.