Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,159
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$6,221
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,940
Massachusetts costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Massachusetts — 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
$35,380
Kept after tax
$29,159
Worth in national money
$26,940
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $35,380, which ranks 11 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 4.12% above the national middle.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, this job lands at 481. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $35,380 the take-home is $29,159; in national-average money that behaves like $26,940. The average comes to $39,220, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts ranks 11 of 51 states publishing a median for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, at $35,380 — about 4.12% 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.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 481 of 485 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.
- Take-home for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Massachusetts, on $35,380, is $29,159; deflated by the state's price level, $26,940. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $39,220 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $35,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,760 |
| This salary | $35,380 |
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 Massachusetts | $29,159 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,608 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,558 |
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 | $33,577 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,513 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,380 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $50,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $29,159 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $35,380. 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 481 of 485.
- Two cautions on $26,940, the adjusted value of that $35,380 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Massachusetts. 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 481 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $35,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $50,760. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $29,159, from $35,380, assumes a single Massachusetts 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 481 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 51 for it.
- This $26,940 adjusted figure, worked from $35,380, 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 481 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 481 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $39,220, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $50,760, so most people doing this work in Massachusetts sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $26,940 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 Massachusetts's own levy, $29,159 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Massachusetts is $39,220. 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 ($31,200 to $50,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Massachusetts rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Massachusetts's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $26,940 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 $29,159 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Massachusetts 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.