Cooks, Restaurant in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,638
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$8,782
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,734
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$45,420
Kept after tax
$36,638
Worth in national money
$33,734
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Hawaii is one of the better-paying states for cooks, restaurant. The middle earner takes $45,420, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.48% above the national middle.
- Within Hawaii this is lower-paid work. Of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, restaurant ranks 366. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $45,420 the take-home is $36,638; in national-average money that behaves like $33,734. The average comes to $47,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Hawaii ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for cooks, restaurant, at $45,420 — about 21.48% 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 Hawaii reports, cooks, restaurant ranks 366 of 437, 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, restaurant in Hawaii, on $45,420, is $36,638; deflated by the state's price level, $33,734. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $47,080 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,320 |
| This salary | $45,420 |
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 Hawaii | $36,638 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,675 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,065 |
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 | $42,885 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,335 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Hawaii earn under $45,420 and half over. The published range runs $35,740 at the tenth percentile to $65,320 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $36,638, from $45,420, 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 366 of 437 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,734 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 366.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,740 to $65,320; 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 Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,638 from $45,420. 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 366 of 437 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,734, worked from $45,420, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 366 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $47,080, 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 $35,740 and the top tenth $65,320, so most people doing this work in Hawaii sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $33,734 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Hawaii's own levy, $36,638 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Hawaii is $47,080. 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 ($35,740 to $65,320) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,734 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $36,638 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.