Cooks, Restaurant in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,110
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$4,650
13.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,985
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$34,760
Kept after tax
$30,110
Worth in national money
$30,985
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for cooks, restaurant. The middle earner takes $34,760, ranking 44 of 51 states — about 7.03% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 445 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $34,760 the take-home is $30,110, which is worth about $30,985 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $33,370, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Texas ranks 44 of 51 for cooks, restaurant, with a median of $34,760 — about 7.03% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Cooks, restaurant occupies position 445 of 493 in Texas'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.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cooks, restaurant on its $34,760 median: $30,110 retained after tax becomes $30,985 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $33,370 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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 | $23,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,810 |
| This salary | $34,760 |
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 Texas | $30,110 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $30,110 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,880 |
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 | $34,760 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,421 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
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 Texas earn under $34,760 and half over. The published range runs $23,330 at the tenth percentile to $42,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $30,110, from $34,760, 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 445 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,985, the adjusted value of that $34,760 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 445 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $23,330 to $42,810; 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 Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,110 from $34,760. 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 445 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $30,985 — the adjusted value of that $34,760 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 445 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $33,370 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $23,330 at the tenth percentile, $42,810 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 $30,985.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $30,110 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Texas is $33,370. 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 ($23,330 to $42,810) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $30,985 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?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $30,110 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.