Fast Food and Counter Workers in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,546
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$3,534
12.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$24,693
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$29,080
Kept after tax
$25,546
Worth in national money
$24,693
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida sits in the middle of the pack for fast food and counter workers. The median is $29,080, ranking 27 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Florida, this one sits low: 492 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Florida is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $29,080 the take-home is $25,546; in national-average money that behaves like $24,693. The average comes to $30,940, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Florida occupies the middle band for fast food and counter workers: a median of $29,080, ranking 27 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Fast food and counter workers occupies position 492 of 493 in Florida'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.
- Take-home for fast food and counter workers in Florida, on $29,080, is $25,546; deflated by the state's price level, $24,693. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $30,940 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,430 |
| This salary | $29,080 |
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 Florida | $25,546 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,546 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,595 |
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 | $29,080 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,896 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $29,080. The published range is $27,570 up to $36,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Florida the take-home figure of $25,546, from $29,080, 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 492 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $24,693, the adjusted value of that $29,080 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. 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 492 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for fast food and counter workers in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,570 to $36,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Florida is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,546 from $29,080. 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 492 of 493 locally.
- This $24,693 adjusted figure, worked from $29,080, 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 492 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 492 of 493 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 $30,940 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,570 at the tenth percentile, $36,430 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $24,693 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $25,546 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Florida is $30,940. 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 ($27,570 to $36,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $24,693 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?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $25,546 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.