Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,214
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$7,366
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,519
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$48,580
Kept after tax
$41,214
Worth in national money
$40,519
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Alaska pays this job a middle wage of $48,580, ranking 2 of 51 states and sitting about 29.72% above the national middle.
- Against 430 occupations Alaska publishes, this job lands at 328. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $48,580, tax leaves $41,214, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $40,519 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,410, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alaska's median for cooks, institution and cafeteria is $48,580, about 29.72% above the national figure and 2 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Alaska, this work ranks 328 of 430 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.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for cooks, institution and cafeteria — median $48,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,214 retained, $40,519 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,410 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,710 |
| This salary | $48,580 |
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 Alaska | $41,214 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,214 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,893 |
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 | $48,580 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,289 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,580 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,990 and the ninetieth is $58,710 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,214 take-home in Alaska comes from $48,580. 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 328 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,519 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 328.
- The Alaska median of $48,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,990 to $58,710. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $41,214, from $48,580, assumes a single Alaska 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 328 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,519, worked from $48,580, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 328 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,990 at the tenth percentile, $58,710 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $40,519 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,214 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,990 to $58,710) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $40,519 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $41,214 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.