Cooks, Restaurant in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,863
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$6,077
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,883
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$35,940
Kept after tax
$29,863
Worth in national money
$30,883
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, restaurant is on the low side in Georgia. The middle earner gets $35,940. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 3.88% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Georgia publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 439. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,940 you keep $29,863 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,883 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $34,430.
- For cooks, restaurant, Georgia sits in the lower band at $35,940, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 3.88%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Georgia, this work ranks 439 of 492 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.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $29,863 after the full tax stack, from $35,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,883 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,430 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,210 |
| This salary | $35,940 |
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 Georgia | $29,863 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,058 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,078 |
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 | $34,453 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,304 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cooks, restaurant in Georgia earn under $35,940 and half over. The published range runs $24,160 at the tenth percentile to $43,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Georgia the take-home figure of $29,863, from $35,940, 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 439 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,883, the adjusted value of that $35,940 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 439 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,160 to $43,210; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Georgia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,863 from $35,940. 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 439 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $30,883 — the adjusted value of that $35,940 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 439 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $34,430, 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 $24,160 and the top tenth $43,210, so most people doing this work in Georgia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Georgia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $30,883 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $29,863.
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 Georgia is $34,430. 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 ($24,160 to $43,210) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $30,883 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $29,863 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.