Cooks, Short Order in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,332
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$8,218
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,965
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$38,550
Kept after tax
$30,332
Worth in national money
$28,965
State rank
13
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, short order is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $38,550, putting the state 13 of 49 — about 7.44% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Oregon, this one sits low: 463 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Oregon is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $38,550 the take-home is $30,332; in national-average money that behaves like $28,965. The average comes to $39,790, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For cooks, short order, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,550, ranking 13 of 49 and running about 7.44% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Cooks, short order occupies position 463 of 489 in Oregon'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.
- Take-home for cooks, short order in Oregon, on $38,550, is $30,332; deflated by the state's price level, $28,965. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $39,790 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 | $30,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,870 |
| This salary | $38,550 |
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 Oregon | $30,332 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,155 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,154 |
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 | $35,037 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,234 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
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 Oregon earn under $38,550 and half over. The published range runs $30,090 at the tenth percentile to $54,870 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,332 take-home in Oregon comes from $38,550. 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 463 of 489.
- Two cautions on $28,965, the adjusted value of that $38,550 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oregon. 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 463 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in Oregon, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,090 to $54,870; 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 $30,332, from $38,550, assumes a single Oregon 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 463 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 49 for it.
- This $28,965 adjusted figure, worked from $38,550, 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 463 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 463 of 489 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 $39,790 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,090 at the tenth percentile, $54,870 at the ninetieth.
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 $28,965 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 Oregon adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,332 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 Oregon is $39,790. 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 ($30,090 to $54,870) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,965 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 $30,332 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.