Cooks, Restaurant in Wyoming
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,773
after federal, FICA and Wyoming tax
Tax takes
$5,057
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,974
Wyoming costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wyoming — 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
$36,830
Kept after tax
$31,773
Worth in national money
$34,974
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wyoming sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, restaurant. The median is $36,830, ranking 26 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 Wyoming, this one sits low: 383 of 433 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Wyoming does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,830 you keep $31,773, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,974 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wyoming occupies the middle band for cooks, restaurant: a median of $36,830, ranking 26 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 383 of 433 in Wyoming'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.
- After federal, FICA and Wyoming income tax, retained pay for cooks, restaurant on $36,830 is $31,773. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,974 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 $37,950 sits above the median, the right skew typical of 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 | $27,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,530 |
| This salary | $36,830 |
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 Wyoming | $31,773 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,773 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,277 |
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 | $36,830 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,754 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wyoming earn less than $36,830. The published range is $27,850 up to $52,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wyoming the take-home figure of $31,773, from $36,830, 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 383 of 433 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,974 uses one figure for the whole of Wyoming. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 433 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 383.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, restaurant in Wyoming the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,850 to $52,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wyoming is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,773 from $36,830. 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 383 of 433 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,974, worked from $36,830, 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 Wyoming address, on work sitting at 383 of 433 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 $37,950, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $27,850 at the bottom tenth to $52,530 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 Wyoming sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,974 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $31,773 of this wage reaches your account, because Wyoming 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Wyoming is $37,950. 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 ($27,850 to $52,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wyoming rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wyoming'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 $34,974 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?
Wyoming levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,773 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.