Fast Food and Counter Workers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,454
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$3,286
11.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,165
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$27,740
Kept after tax
$24,454
Worth in national money
$25,165
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for fast food and counter workers. The middle earner takes $27,740, ranking 40 of 51 states — about 11.09% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 485 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $27,740, tax leaves $24,454, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $25,165 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $27,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas ranks 40 of 51 for fast food and counter workers, with a median of $27,740 — about 11.09% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Fast food and counter workers occupies position 485 of 493 in Texas'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.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for fast food and counter workers — median $27,740 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $24,454 retained, $25,165 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $27,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $21,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,680 |
| This salary | $27,740 |
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 Texas | $24,454 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $24,454 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,527 |
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 | $27,740 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,947 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
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 Texas earn under $27,740 and half over. The published range runs $21,710 at the tenth percentile to $35,680 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 Texas's $24,454, worked from $27,740. 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 485 of 493.
- Two cautions on $25,165, the adjusted value of that $27,740 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. 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 485 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for fast food and counter workers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,710 to $35,680; 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 Texas take-home of $24,454, on $27,740 for work ranking 485 of 493 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 485 of 493 in the state.
- This $25,165 adjusted figure, worked from $27,740, 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 485 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 485 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $21,710 at the bottom tenth to $35,680 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $25,165 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $24,454 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($21,710 to $35,680) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $25,165 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $24,454 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.