Cooks, Restaurant in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,841
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$4,719
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,457
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$29,560
Kept after tax
$24,841
Worth in national money
$28,457
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, restaurant is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $29,560. That is 50 of 51 states, and about 20.94% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 486 occupations Mississippi publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 442. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,560 you keep $24,841, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $28,457 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $29,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, restaurant, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $29,560, ranking 50 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 20.94%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Mississippi, this work ranks 442 of 486 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for cooks, restaurant on $29,560 is $24,841. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $28,457 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $29,770 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 | $22,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,880 |
| This salary | $29,560 |
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 Mississippi | $24,841 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,931 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,772 |
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 | $28,210 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,143 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $29,560. The published range is $22,010 up to $36,880, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $24,841 take-home in Mississippi comes from $29,560. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 442 of 486.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,457 uses one figure for the whole of Mississippi. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 486 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 442.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, restaurant in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $22,010 to $36,880. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $24,841, from $29,560, assumes a single Mississippi filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 442 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,457, worked from $29,560, 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 Mississippi address, on work sitting at 442 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,010 at the tenth percentile, $36,880 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Mississippi sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $28,457 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $24,841 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,010 to $36,880) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $28,457 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 $24,841 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.