Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,862
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$5,568
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,916
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$39,430
Kept after tax
$33,862
Worth in national money
$34,916
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Nevada pays this job around $39,430 at the midpoint, 21 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 485 occupations Nevada publishes, this job lands at 405. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Nevada is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,430 the take-home is $33,862; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,916 would nationally. The average comes to $41,850, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For cooks, institution and cafeteria the Nevada median is $39,430, ranking 21 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 Nevada, this work ranks 405 of 485 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.
- Post-tax income for cooks, institution and cafeteria in Nevada, on $39,430, is $33,862 — equivalent to $34,916 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $41,850 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $32,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,520 |
| This salary | $39,430 |
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 Nevada | $33,862 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,862 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$70 |
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 | $39,430 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$85 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,430 as a midpoint for Nevada, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,020 and the ninetieth is $53,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $33,862 take-home in Nevada comes from $39,430. 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 405 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,916 uses one figure for the whole of Nevada. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 405.
- The Nevada median of $39,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,020 to $53,520. 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 $33,862, from $39,430, assumes a single Nevada 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 405 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,916, worked from $39,430, 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 Nevada address, on work sitting at 405 of 485 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 $41,850, 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 $32,020 and the top tenth $53,520, so most people doing this work in Nevada sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nevada sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,916 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $33,862 of this wage reaches your account, because Nevada takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Nevada is $41,850. 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 ($32,020 to $53,520) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nevada rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nevada'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 $34,916 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $33,862 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.