Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,090
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,580
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,770
Washington costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Washington — 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
$49,670
Kept after tax
$42,090
Worth in national money
$38,770
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $49,670, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 32.63% above the national middle.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 392. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $49,670 the take-home is $42,090; in national-average money that behaves like $38,770. The average comes to $51,290, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for cooks, institution and cafeteria, at $49,670 — about 32.63% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, cooks, institution and cafeteria ranks 392 of 493, 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.
- Take-home for cooks, institution and cafeteria in Washington, on $49,670, is $42,090; deflated by the state's price level, $38,770. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $51,290 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 | $39,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,840 |
| This salary | $49,670 |
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 Washington | $42,090 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,090 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,543 |
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 | $49,670 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,494 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $49,670. The published range is $39,820 up to $62,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $42,090, worked from $49,670. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 392 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,770 uses one figure for the whole of Washington. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 392.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, institution and cafeteria in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,820 to $62,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $42,090, on $49,670 for work ranking 392 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 392 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,770, worked from $49,670, 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 Washington address, on work sitting at 392 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,290, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $39,820 and the top tenth $62,840, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $38,770 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $42,090 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Washington is $51,290. 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 ($39,820 to $62,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Washington rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Washington's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $38,770 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?
Washington levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $42,090 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.