Cooks, Restaurant in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,443
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,977
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,987
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$36,420
Kept after tax
$31,443
Worth in national money
$33,987
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays cooks, restaurant around $36,420 at the midpoint, 34 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 427. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,420 you keep $31,443, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,987 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, restaurant the Tennessee median is $36,420, ranking 34 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Tennessee, this work ranks 427 of 491 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 Tennessee income tax, retained pay for cooks, restaurant on $36,420 is $31,443. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,987 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 $36,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,650 |
| This salary | $36,420 |
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 Tennessee | $31,443 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,443 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,630 |
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 | $36,420 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,971 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,420 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,910 and the ninetieth is $45,650 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $31,443 take-home in Tennessee comes from $36,420. 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 427 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,987 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 427.
- The Tennessee median of $36,420 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,910 to $45,650. 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 $31,443, from $36,420, assumes a single Tennessee 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 427 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,987, worked from $36,420, 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 Tennessee address, on work sitting at 427 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,910 at the tenth percentile, $45,650 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,987 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $31,443 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 ($27,910 to $45,650) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $33,987 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,443 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.