Cooks, Restaurant in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,387
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$8,003
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,688
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$45,390
Kept after tax
$37,387
Worth in national money
$38,688
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Vermont pays cooks, restaurant a middle wage of $45,390, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 21.4% above the national middle.
- Within Vermont this is lower-paid work. Of 453 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, restaurant ranks 386. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $45,390 you keep $37,387 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,688 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $43,680.
- Vermont's median for cooks, restaurant is $45,390, about 21.4% above the national figure and 5 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation Vermont reports, cooks, restaurant ranks 386 of 453, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $37,387 after the full tax stack, from $45,390. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,688 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,680 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 | $31,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,180 |
| This salary | $45,390 |
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 Vermont | $37,387 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,651 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,086 |
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 | $43,817 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,313 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Vermont earn less than $45,390. The published range is $31,210 up to $56,180, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $37,387, from $45,390, 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 386 of 453 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,688, the adjusted value of that $45,390 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 386 of 453 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, restaurant in Vermont the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,210 to $56,180. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,387 from $45,390. 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 386 of 453 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $38,688 — the adjusted value of that $45,390 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 386 of 453 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $43,680, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,210 at the tenth percentile, $56,180 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Vermont sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,688 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 Vermont adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,387 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.
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 Vermont is $43,680. 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 ($31,210 to $56,180) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $38,688 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 $37,387 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.