Cooks, Restaurant in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,432
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$5,708
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,852
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
$40,140
Kept after tax
$34,432
Worth in national money
$33,852
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for cooks, restaurant. The middle earner takes $40,140, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 7.35% above the national middle.
- Within Alaska this is lower-paid work. Of 430 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, restaurant ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $40,140, take-home of $34,432 is worth roughly $33,852 in national money. The average comes to $41,770, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alaska ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for cooks, restaurant, at $40,140 — about 7.35% 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 Alaska reports, cooks, restaurant ranks 390 of 430, 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.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for cooks, restaurant, whose median is $40,140, the adjusted figure of $33,852 differs little from $34,432 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,770 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,800 |
| This salary | $40,140 |
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 | $34,432 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,432 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,582 |
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 | $40,140 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,913 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,140 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,230 and the ninetieth is $46,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $34,432, worked from $40,140. 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 390 of 430.
- Two cautions on $33,852, the adjusted value of that $40,140 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 390 of 430 locally.
- The Alaska median of $40,140 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,230 to $46,800. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alaska take-home of $34,432, on $40,140 for work ranking 390 of 430 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 390 of 430 in the state.
- This $33,852 adjusted figure, worked from $40,140, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 390 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 390 of 430 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 $41,770, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,230 at the tenth percentile, $46,800 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $33,852 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $34,432 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?
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 Alaska is $41,770. 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 ($36,230 to $46,800) 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 $33,852 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 $34,432 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.