Fast Food and Counter Workers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,967
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$5,743
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,833
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$34,710
Kept after tax
$28,967
Worth in national money
$29,833
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays fast food and counter workers a middle wage of $34,710, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 11.25% above the national middle.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, fast food and counter workers lands at 480. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $34,710, tax leaves $28,967, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $29,833 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $35,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maine's median for fast food and counter workers is $34,710, about 11.25% above the national figure and 11 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.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 480 of 484 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for fast food and counter workers — median $34,710 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $28,967 retained, $29,833 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $35,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,640 |
| This salary | $34,710 |
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 Maine | $28,967 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,069 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,111 |
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 | $33,338 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,343 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,710 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,740 and the ninetieth is $42,640 — 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 Maine's $28,967, worked from $34,710. 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 480 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,833 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 480.
- The Maine median of $34,710 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,740 to $42,640. 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 Maine take-home of $28,967, on $34,710 for work ranking 480 of 484 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 480 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,833, worked from $34,710, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 480 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $35,880, 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 — $30,740 at the tenth percentile, $42,640 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $29,833 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $28,967.
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 Maine is $35,880. 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 ($30,740 to $42,640) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $29,833 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 $28,967 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.