Cooks, Restaurant in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,449
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,131
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,230
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$36,580
Kept after tax
$30,449
Worth in national money
$31,230
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, restaurant. The median is $36,580, ranking 28 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Pennsylvania, this one sits low: 444 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,580, tax leaves $30,449, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,230 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $35,750.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for cooks, restaurant: a median of $36,580, ranking 28 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Cooks, restaurant occupies position 444 of 492 in Pennsylvania's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for cooks, restaurant — median $36,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,449 retained, $31,230 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $35,750 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,120 |
| This salary | $36,580 |
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 Pennsylvania | $30,449 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,572 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,260 |
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 | $35,182 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,524 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,580 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,650 and the ninetieth is $45,120 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,449 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $36,580. 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 444 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,230, the adjusted value of that $36,580 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 444 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $36,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,650 to $45,120. 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 $30,449, from $36,580, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 444 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $31,230 — the adjusted value of that $36,580 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 444 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $22,650 at the bottom tenth to $45,120 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $31,230 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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,449 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 ($22,650 to $45,120) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $31,230 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 $30,449 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.