Cooks, Short Order in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,781
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$4,399
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,243
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$28,180
Kept after tax
$23,781
Worth in national money
$27,243
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, short order is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $28,180. That is 40 of 49 states, and about 21.46% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 486 occupations Mississippi publishes, cooks, short order lands at 453. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $28,180 the take-home is $23,781; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,243 would nationally. The average lands at $27,140, below the middle of the range.
- For cooks, short order, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $28,180, ranking 40 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 21.46%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Mississippi, this work ranks 453 of 486 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.
- Post-tax income for cooks, short order in Mississippi, on $28,180, is $23,781 — equivalent to $27,243 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $27,140 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $19,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,250 |
| This salary | $28,180 |
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 Mississippi | $23,781 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,816 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,705 |
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 | $26,923 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,055 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $28,180. The published range is $19,200 up to $35,250, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $23,781, from $28,180, 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 453 of 486 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,243, the adjusted value of that $28,180 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 453 of 486 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, short order in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $19,200 to $35,250. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $23,781 from $28,180. 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 453 of 486 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $27,243 — the adjusted value of that $28,180 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 453 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $27,140, 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 — $19,200 at the tenth percentile, $35,250 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,243 in national terms.
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 Mississippi's own levy, $23,781 remains.
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 Mississippi is $27,140. 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 ($19,200 to $35,250) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $27,243 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 $23,781 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.