Cooks, Short Order in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$19,060
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$2,880
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$20,676
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$21,940
Kept after tax
$19,060
Worth in national money
$20,676
State rank
48
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, short order is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $21,940. That is 48 of 49 states, and about 38.85% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Indiana publishes, cooks, short order lands at 493. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $21,940 you keep $19,060, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $20,676 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $26,850, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, short order, Indiana sits in the lower band at $21,940, ranking 48 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 38.85%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Indiana, this work ranks 493 of 493 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.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for cooks, short order on $21,940 is $19,060. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $20,676 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 $26,850 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $21,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,260 |
| This salary | $21,940 |
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 Indiana | $19,060 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $19,678 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$426 |
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 | $21,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$503 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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, short order in Indiana earn under $21,940 and half over. The published range runs $20,760 at the tenth percentile to $36,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $19,060, worked from $21,940. 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 493 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $20,676 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. 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 493.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $20,760 to $36,260; 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.
- The Indiana take-home of $19,060, on $21,940 for work ranking 493 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 493 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $20,676, worked from $21,940, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 493 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $26,850, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $20,760 at the tenth percentile, $36,260 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $20,676 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 Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $19,060 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Indiana is $26,850. 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 ($20,760 to $36,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $20,676 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 $19,060 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.
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.