Cooks, Short Order in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,536
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$5,244
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,549
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$37,780
Kept after tax
$32,536
Worth in national money
$33,549
State rank
18
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Nevada sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, short order. The median is $37,780, ranking 18 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 Nevada, this one sits low: 427 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,780 you keep $32,536 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,549 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $35,100.
- Nevada occupies the middle band for cooks, short order: a median of $37,780, ranking 18 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 427 of 485 in Nevada'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.
- Retained pay in Nevada is $32,536 after the full tax stack, from $37,780. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,549 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $35,100 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 | $27,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,530 |
| This salary | $37,780 |
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 Nevada | $32,536 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,536 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$67 |
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 | $37,780 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$81 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Nevada earn under $37,780 and half over. The published range runs $27,040 at the tenth percentile to $41,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,536 take-home in Nevada comes from $37,780. 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 427 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,549 uses one figure for the whole of Nevada. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 427.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in Nevada, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,040 to $41,530; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,536, from $37,780, assumes a single Nevada 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 427 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,549, worked from $37,780, 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 Nevada address, on work sitting at 427 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 $35,100 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,040 and the top tenth $41,530, so most people doing this work in Nevada sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nevada sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,549 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $32,536 of this wage reaches your account, because Nevada 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?
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 Nevada is $35,100. 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 ($27,040 to $41,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nevada rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nevada'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 $33,549 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $32,536 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.