Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,116
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$4,574
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,897
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$30,690
Kept after tax
$26,116
Worth in national money
$28,897
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Nebraska pays this job around $30,690 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Nebraska publishes, this job lands at 474. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Nebraska does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $30,690 you keep $26,116, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $28,897 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,170, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers the Nebraska median is $30,690, ranking 22 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 Nebraska, this work ranks 474 of 488 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.
- After federal, FICA and Nebraska income tax, retained pay for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers on $30,690 is $26,116. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $28,897 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 $33,170 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 | $28,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,900 |
| This salary | $30,690 |
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 Nebraska | $26,116 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,839 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,278 |
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 | $29,790 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,545 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,690 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,080 and the ninetieth is $39,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Nebraska's $26,116, worked from $30,690. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 474 of 488.
- Two cautions on $28,897, the adjusted value of that $30,690 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. 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 488 locally.
- The Nebraska median of $30,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,080 to $39,900. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Nebraska take-home of $26,116, on $30,690 for work ranking 474 of 488 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 474 of 488 in the state.
- This $28,897 adjusted figure, worked from $30,690, 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 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 474 of 488 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 $33,170, 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 $28,080 and the top tenth $39,900, so most people doing this work in Nebraska sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $28,897.
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 Nebraska's own levy, $26,116 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 Nebraska is $33,170. 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 ($28,080 to $39,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $28,897 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 $26,116 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.