Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,079
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$7,721
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,768
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$36,800
Kept after tax
$29,079
Worth in national money
$27,768
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $36,800, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 8.3% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Oregon this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 473. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,800, tax leaves $29,079 — and because Oregon is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,768 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $38,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $36,800, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 8.3% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Oregon reports, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ranks 473 of 489, 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 tax, $29,079 remains from the Oregon median of $36,800 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,768 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $38,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $36,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,810 |
| This salary | $36,800 |
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 Oregon | $29,079 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,749 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,904 |
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 | $33,477 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,931 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Oregon earn less than $36,800. The published range is $31,200 up to $45,810, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $29,079 take-home in Oregon comes from $36,800. 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 473 of 489.
- Two cautions on $27,768, the adjusted value of that $36,800 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oregon. 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 473 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Oregon the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $45,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $29,079, from $36,800, assumes a single Oregon 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 473 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- This $27,768 adjusted figure, worked from $36,800, 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 473 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 473 of 489 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 $38,700, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $45,810 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Oregon run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $27,768 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Oregon's own levy, $29,079 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 Oregon is $38,700. 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 $45,810) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,768 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 $29,079 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.