Cooks, Short Order in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,873
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$8,417
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,142
Massachusetts costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Massachusetts — 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
$44,290
Kept after tax
$35,873
Worth in national money
$33,142
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for cooks, short order. The middle earner takes $44,290, which ranks 3 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 23.44% above the national middle.
- Within Massachusetts this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, short order ranks 419. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $44,290, tax leaves $35,873 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $33,142 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $42,700.
- Massachusetts ranks 3 of 49 states publishing a median for cooks, short order, at $44,290 — about 23.44% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Against every occupation Massachusetts reports, cooks, short order ranks 419 of 485, 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.
- After tax, $35,873 remains from the Massachusetts median of $44,290 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $33,142 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $42,700 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,780 |
| This salary | $44,290 |
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 Massachusetts | $35,873 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,767 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,723 |
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 | $41,932 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,921 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Massachusetts earn less than $44,290. The published range is $32,550 up to $53,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $35,873 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $44,290. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 419 of 485.
- Two cautions on $33,142, the adjusted value of that $44,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Massachusetts. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 419 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, short order in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,550 to $53,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $35,873, from $44,290, assumes a single Massachusetts filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 419 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 49 for it.
- This $33,142 adjusted figure, worked from $44,290, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 419 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 419 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,550 at the bottom tenth to $53,780 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 $33,142 of national purchasing power.
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 Massachusetts adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,873 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Massachusetts is $42,700. 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 ($32,550 to $53,780) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Massachusetts rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Massachusetts's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,142 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 $35,873 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Massachusetts 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.