Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,463
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$7,927
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,165
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$46,390
Kept after tax
$38,463
Worth in national money
$34,165
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $46,390, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 23.87% ahead of the national figure.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 411. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,390, tax leaves $38,463 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $34,165 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $47,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cooks, institution and cafeteria, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $46,390, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 23.87% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation California reports, cooks, institution and cafeteria ranks 411 of 492, 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 tax, $38,463 remains from the California median of $46,390 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $34,165 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $47,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,630 |
| This salary | $46,390 |
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 California | $38,463 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,454 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,437 |
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 | $45,156 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,784 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
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, institution and cafeteria in California earn under $46,390 and half over. The published range runs $37,570 at the tenth percentile to $59,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In California the take-home figure of $38,463, from $46,390, 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 411 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,165, the adjusted value of that $46,390 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 411 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, institution and cafeteria in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,570 to $59,630; 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 California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,463 from $46,390. 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 411 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $34,165 — the adjusted value of that $46,390 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 411 of 492 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 $47,900 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,570 at the bottom tenth to $59,630 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $34,165 of national purchasing power.
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 California's own levy, $38,463 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 California is $47,900. 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 ($37,570 to $59,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,165 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 $38,463 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.