Cooks, Fast Food in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,316
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$5,484
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,701
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$31,800
Kept after tax
$26,316
Worth in national money
$27,701
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Utah pays cooks, fast food around $31,800 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 487 occupations Utah publishes, cooks, fast food lands at 472. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Utah does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $31,800 you keep $26,316, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $27,701 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, fast food the Utah median is $31,800, ranking 22 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 Utah, this work ranks 472 of 487 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.
- After federal, FICA and Utah income tax, retained pay for cooks, fast food on $31,800 is $26,316. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $27,701 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 $34,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Cooks, Fast Food
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,200 |
| This salary | $31,800 |
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 Utah | $26,316 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$837 |
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 | $30,039 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,012 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,800 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,760 and the ninetieth is $47,200 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Utah the take-home figure of $26,316, from $31,800, 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 472 of 487 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,701 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 472.
- The Utah median of $31,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,760 to $47,200. 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 Utah is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,316 from $31,800. 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 472 of 487 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,701, worked from $31,800, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 472 of 487 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 $34,230, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,760 and the top tenth $47,200, so most people doing this work in Utah sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $27,701.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,316 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Utah is $34,230. 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 ($27,760 to $47,200) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $27,701 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 $26,316 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.