Cooks, Restaurant in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,475
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$5,065
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,193
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$35,540
Kept after tax
$30,475
Worth in national money
$33,193
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, restaurant is on the low side in Ohio. The middle earner gets $35,540. That is 39 of 51 states, and about 4.95% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 494 occupations Ohio publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 457. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Ohio is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,540 the take-home is $30,475; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,193 would nationally. The average lands at $35,280, below the middle of the range.
- For cooks, restaurant, Ohio sits in the lower band at $35,540, ranking 39 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.95%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Ohio, this work ranks 457 of 494 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.
- Post-tax income for cooks, restaurant in Ohio, on $35,540, is $30,475 — equivalent to $33,193 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $35,280 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,940 |
| This salary | $35,540 |
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 Ohio | $30,475 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,736 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,563 |
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 | $35,215 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,891 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,540 as a midpoint for Ohio, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,590 and the ninetieth is $44,940 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,475 take-home in Ohio comes from $35,540. 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 457 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,193 uses one figure for the whole of Ohio. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 457.
- The Ohio median of $35,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,590 to $44,940. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,475, from $35,540, assumes a single Ohio 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 457 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,193, worked from $35,540, 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 Ohio address, on work sitting at 457 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,590 at the tenth percentile, $44,940 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $33,193.
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; Ohio then takes its own share, leaving $30,475.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,590 to $44,940) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $33,193 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 $30,475 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.