Cooks, Restaurant in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,926
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$5,094
13.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,860
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$37,020
Kept after tax
$31,926
Worth in national money
$30,860
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Florida is 23 of 51 states for cooks, restaurant, with a middle wage of $37,020. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Florida this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, restaurant ranks 433. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $37,020 the take-home is $31,926. But Florida costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $30,860 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $38,320, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Florida ranks 23 of 51 for cooks, restaurant at $37,020. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Florida reports, cooks, restaurant ranks 433 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Florida income tax is $31,926 for cooks, restaurant, from $37,020. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,860. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $38,320 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,450 |
| This salary | $37,020 |
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 Florida | $31,926 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,926 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,993 |
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 | $37,020 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,411 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $37,020. The published range is $29,710 up to $46,450, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Florida the take-home figure of $31,926, from $37,020, 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 433 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $30,860, the adjusted value of that $37,020 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. 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 433 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, restaurant in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,710 to $46,450. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Florida is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,926 from $37,020. 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 433 of 493 locally.
- This $30,860 adjusted figure, worked from $37,020, 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 433 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 433 of 493 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 $38,320, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $29,710 at the bottom tenth to $46,450 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 Florida run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $30,860 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $31,926 survives, because Florida 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?
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 Florida is $38,320. 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 ($29,710 to $46,450) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $30,860 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?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,926 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.