Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,837
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,723
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,789
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$38,560
Kept after tax
$31,837
Worth in national money
$32,789
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $38,560, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 13.48% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Maine, this one sits low: 447 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $38,560 the take-home is $31,837, which is worth about $32,789 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $42,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, at $38,560 — about 13.48% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers occupies position 447 of 484 in Maine'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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers on its $38,560 median: $31,837 retained after tax becomes $32,789 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $42,960 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: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,080 |
| This salary | $38,560 |
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 Maine | $31,837 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,163 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,338 |
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 | $36,910 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,618 |
| 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 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Maine earn under $38,560 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $62,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,837 take-home in Maine comes from $38,560. 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 447 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,789, the adjusted value of that $38,560 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 447 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $62,080; 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 $31,837, from $38,560, assumes a single Maine 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 447 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $32,789 — the adjusted value of that $38,560 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 447 of 484 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 $42,960 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,200 and the top tenth $62,080 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $32,789.
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 Maine's own levy, $31,837 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Maine is $42,960. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,200) and the ninetieth ($62,080) 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?
Maine'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 $32,789 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 $31,837 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.