Cooks, Short Order in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,422
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,128
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,337
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$35,550
Kept after tax
$29,422
Worth in national money
$27,337
State rank
22
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New York pays cooks, short order around $35,550 at the midpoint, 22 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations New York publishes, cooks, short order lands at 485. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $35,550 the take-home is $29,422. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $27,337 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $38,320, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, short order the New York median is $35,550, ranking 22 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New York, this work ranks 485 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $29,422 for cooks, short order, from $35,550. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,337. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $38,320 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,550 |
| This salary | $35,550 |
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 New York | $29,422 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,744 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,301 |
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 | $33,904 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,202 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $35,550 and half over. The published range runs $32,240 at the tenth percentile to $46,550 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 New York's $29,422, worked from $35,550. 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 485 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,337, the adjusted value of that $35,550 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 485 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,240 to $46,550; 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 New York take-home of $29,422, on $35,550 for work ranking 485 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 485 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $27,337 — the adjusted value of that $35,550 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 485 of 493 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 $38,320 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 $32,240 and the top tenth $46,550, so most people doing this work in New York sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $27,337 rather than its face figure.
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 New York's own levy, $29,422 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 New York is $38,320. 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 ($32,240 to $46,550) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,337 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 $29,422 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.