Cooks, Short Order in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,993
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$4,537
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,761
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$30,530
Kept after tax
$25,993
Worth in national money
$28,761
State rank
35
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Nebraska pays cooks, short order a middle wage of $30,530, 35 of 49 states and about 14.91% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Nebraska this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, cooks, short order ranks 475. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,530 the take-home is $25,993; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $28,761 would nationally. The average comes to $33,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Nebraska's $30,530 median for cooks, short order places it 35 of 49 states, about 14.91% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Nebraska reports, cooks, short order ranks 475 of 488, 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.
- Post-tax income for cooks, short order in Nebraska, on $30,530, is $25,993 — equivalent to $28,761 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 $33,080 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,430 |
| This salary | $30,530 |
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 Nebraska | $25,993 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,711 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,274 |
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 | $29,637 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,541 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 Nebraska earn under $30,530 and half over. The published range runs $28,080 at the tenth percentile to $41,430 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 Nebraska's $25,993, worked from $30,530. 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 475 of 488.
- Two cautions on $28,761, the adjusted value of that $30,530 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. 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 475 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in Nebraska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,080 to $41,430; 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 Nebraska take-home of $25,993, on $30,530 for work ranking 475 of 488 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 475 of 488 in the state.
- This $28,761 adjusted figure, worked from $30,530, 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 475 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 475 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,080, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $28,080 at the bottom tenth to $41,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Nebraska is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,761 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Nebraska then takes its own share, leaving $25,993.
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 Nebraska is $33,080. 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 ($28,080 to $41,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $28,761 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 $25,993 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.