Cooks, Short Order in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,692
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$4,548
13.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,701
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$34,240
Kept after tax
$29,692
Worth in national money
$28,701
State rank
26
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, short order. The median is $34,240, ranking 26 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Florida, this one sits low: 466 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $34,240, tax leaves $29,692 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,701 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $34,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida occupies the middle band for cooks, short order: a median of $34,240, ranking 26 of 49. 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, short order occupies position 466 of 493 in Florida'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 tax, $29,692 remains from the Florida median of $34,240 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,701 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $34,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,260 |
| This salary | $34,240 |
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 Florida | $29,692 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,692 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,854 |
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 | $34,240 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,242 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $34,240. The published range is $31,450 up to $37,260, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Florida's $29,692, worked from $34,240. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 466 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,701 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 466.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, short order in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,450 to $37,260. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Florida take-home of $29,692, on $34,240 for work ranking 466 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 466 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,701, worked from $34,240, 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 Florida address, on work sitting at 466 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,450 at the bottom tenth to $37,260 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $28,701 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $29,692 of this wage reaches your account, because Florida takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,450 to $37,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,701 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $29,692 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.