Cooks, Fast Food in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,283
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$4,667
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,095
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$29,950
Kept after tax
$25,283
Worth in national money
$25,095
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Virginia is 28 of 51 states for cooks, fast food, with a middle wage of $29,950. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, fast food ranks 488. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $29,950 the take-home is $25,283, which is worth about $25,095 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $31,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia ranks 28 of 51 for cooks, fast food at $29,950. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Virginia reports, cooks, fast food ranks 488 of 489, 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cooks, fast food on its $29,950 median: $25,283 retained after tax becomes $25,095 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $31,980 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 | $27,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,730 |
| This salary | $29,950 |
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 Virginia | $25,283 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,245 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,912 |
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 | $28,753 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,292 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cooks, fast food in Virginia earn under $29,950 and half over. The published range runs $27,400 at the tenth percentile to $37,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $25,283, from $29,950, 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 488 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,095, the adjusted value of that $29,950 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 488 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, fast food in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,400 to $37,730; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,283 from $29,950. 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 488 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $25,095 — the adjusted value of that $29,950 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 488 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 $31,980, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,400 at the bottom tenth to $37,730 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $25,095 rather than its face figure.
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 Virginia's own levy, $25,283 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.
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 Virginia is $31,980. 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 ($27,400 to $37,730) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $25,095 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 $25,283 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.