Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,412
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$8,708
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,081
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$46,120
Kept after tax
$37,412
Worth in national money
$36,081
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Connecticut pays this job a middle wage of $46,120, ranking 8 of 51 states and sitting about 23.15% above the national middle.
- Within Connecticut this is lower-paid work. Of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 381. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,120, tax leaves $37,412 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,081 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $46,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- Connecticut's median for cooks, institution and cafeteria is $46,120, about 23.15% above the national figure and 8 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.
- Against every occupation Connecticut reports, cooks, institution and cafeteria ranks 381 of 482, 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, $37,412 remains from the Connecticut median of $46,120 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,081 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $46,320 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 | $38,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,570 |
| This salary | $46,120 |
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 Connecticut | $37,412 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,237 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,297 |
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 | $43,848 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,197 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,120 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,380 and the ninetieth is $56,570 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,412 take-home in Connecticut comes from $46,120. 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 381 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Connecticut, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,081, the adjusted value of that $46,120 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 381 of 482 in the state.
- The Connecticut median of $46,120 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,380 to $56,570. 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 $37,412, from $46,120, assumes a single Connecticut 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 381 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Connecticut, so $36,081 — the adjusted value of that $46,120 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 381 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,380 at the bottom tenth to $56,570 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Connecticut run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $36,081 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Connecticut's own levy, $37,412 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,380 to $56,570) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,081 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 $37,412 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.