Fast Food and Counter Workers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,920
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$4,360
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,433
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$33,280
Kept after tax
$28,920
Worth in national money
$28,433
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Alaska pays fast food and counter workers a middle wage of $33,280, ranking 16 of 51 states and sitting about 6.67% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Alaska, this one sits low: 424 of 430 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $33,280 the take-home is $28,920, which is worth about $28,433 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $34,500, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska's median for fast food and counter workers is $33,280, about 6.67% above the national figure and 16 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Fast food and counter workers occupies position 424 of 430 in Alaska'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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for fast food and counter workers on its $33,280 median: $28,920 retained after tax becomes $28,433 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $34,500 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,170 |
| This salary | $33,280 |
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 Alaska | $28,920 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,920 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,328 |
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 | $33,280 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,607 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 fast food and counter workers in Alaska earn under $33,280 and half over. The published range runs $24,830 at the tenth percentile to $45,170 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $28,920, worked from $33,280. 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 424 of 430.
- Two cautions on $28,433, the adjusted value of that $33,280 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. 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 424 of 430 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for fast food and counter workers in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,830 to $45,170; 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.
- The Alaska take-home of $28,920, on $33,280 for work ranking 424 of 430 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 424 of 430 in the state.
- This $28,433 adjusted figure, worked from $33,280, 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 424 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 424 of 430 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 $34,500 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,830 at the bottom tenth to $45,170 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 Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $28,433 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $28,920 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Alaska is $34,500. 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 ($24,830 to $45,170) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,433 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $28,920 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.