Cooks, Restaurant in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,356
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,394
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,130
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$36,750
Kept after tax
$30,356
Worth in national money
$30,130
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays cooks, restaurant around $36,750 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 446. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $36,750, take-home of $30,356 is worth roughly $30,130 in national money. The average comes to $38,180, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For cooks, restaurant the Virginia median is $36,750, ranking 27 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 Virginia, this work ranks 446 of 489 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.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for cooks, restaurant, whose median is $36,750, the adjusted figure of $30,130 differs little from $30,356 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $38,180 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,740 |
| This salary | $36,750 |
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 Virginia | $30,356 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,709 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,500 |
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 | $35,067 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,023 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Virginia earn under $36,750 and half over. The published range runs $29,340 at the tenth percentile to $45,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $30,356, from $36,750, 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 446 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,130, the adjusted value of that $36,750 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 446 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,340 to $45,740; 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 Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,356 from $36,750. 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 446 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $30,130 — the adjusted value of that $36,750 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 446 of 489 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 $38,180, 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 — $29,340 at the tenth percentile, $45,740 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $30,130 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia's own levy, $30,356 remains.
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 Virginia is $38,180. 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 ($29,340 to $45,740) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $30,130 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $30,356 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.