Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,212
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$4,638
14.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,655
Missouri costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Missouri — 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
$31,850
Kept after tax
$27,212
Worth in national money
$29,655
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 18 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $31,850. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 470. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $31,850 you keep $27,212, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,655 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,870, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 18 of 51 for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers at $31,850. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Missouri reports, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ranks 470 of 488, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers on $31,850 is $27,212. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,655 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $33,870 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,150 |
| This salary | $31,850 |
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 Missouri | $27,212 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,771 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,076 |
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 | $31,154 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,301 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $31,850. The published range is $28,600 up to $39,150, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $27,212, from $31,850, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 470 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,655, the adjusted value of that $31,850 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. 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 470 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,600 to $39,150. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $27,212 from $31,850. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 470 of 488 locally.
- This $29,655 adjusted figure, worked from $31,850, 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 470 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 470 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,870, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,600 at the tenth percentile, $39,150 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Missouri sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $29,655 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $27,212 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Missouri is $33,870. 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 ($28,600 to $39,150) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Missouri rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Missouri'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 $29,655 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 $27,212 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Missouri 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.