Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,891
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$3,919
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,132
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$27,810
Kept after tax
$23,891
Worth in national money
$26,132
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Idaho pays this job around $27,810 at the midpoint, 33 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 476 occupations Idaho publishes, this job lands at 474. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $27,810 you keep $23,891 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,132 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $27,800.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers the Idaho median is $27,810, ranking 33 of 51 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 Idaho, this work ranks 474 of 476 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 in Idaho is $23,891 after the full tax stack, from $27,810. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,132 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $27,800 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $16,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,430 |
| This salary | $27,810 |
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 Idaho | $23,891 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,512 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$908 |
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 | $27,056 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,080 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Idaho earn under $27,810 and half over. The published range runs $16,770 at the tenth percentile to $37,430 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $23,891 take-home in Idaho comes from $27,810. 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 474 of 476.
- Two cautions on $26,132, the adjusted value of that $27,810 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Idaho. 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 474 of 476 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $16,770 to $37,430; 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.
- Retained pay of $23,891, from $27,810, assumes a single Idaho 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 474 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 51 for it.
- This $26,132 adjusted figure, worked from $27,810, 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 474 of 476 in the state. The occupation ranks 474 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $16,770, the highest tenth $37,430, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $26,132 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Idaho then takes its own share, leaving $23,891.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($16,770) and the ninetieth ($37,430) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho'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 $26,132 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 $23,891 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.