Food Preparation Workers in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,589
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$6,061
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,501
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$36,650
Kept after tax
$30,589
Worth in national money
$29,501
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Connecticut is one of the better-paying states for food preparation workers. The middle earner takes $36,650, which ranks 11 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 3.77% above the national middle.
- Against 482 occupations Connecticut publishes, food preparation workers lands at 454. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Connecticut is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $36,650 the take-home is $30,589; in national-average money that behaves like $29,501. The average comes to $39,290, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Connecticut ranks 11 of 51 states publishing a median for food preparation workers, at $36,650 — about 3.77% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Connecticut, this work ranks 454 of 482 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.
- Take-home for food preparation workers in Connecticut, on $36,650, is $30,589; deflated by the state's price level, $29,501. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $39,290 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,790 |
| This salary | $36,650 |
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 Connecticut | $30,589 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,628 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,047 |
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 | $35,357 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,685 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
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 food preparation workers in Connecticut earn under $36,650 and half over. The published range runs $34,010 at the tenth percentile to $47,790 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Connecticut the take-home figure of $30,589, from $36,650, 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 454 of 482 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,501, the adjusted value of that $36,650 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. 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 454 of 482 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for food preparation workers in Connecticut, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,010 to $47,790; 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.
- Take-home for Connecticut is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,589 from $36,650. 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 454 of 482 locally.
- This $29,501 adjusted figure, worked from $36,650, 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 454 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 454 of 482 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 $39,290, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,010 at the tenth percentile, $47,790 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 $29,501 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Connecticut adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,589 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Connecticut is $39,290. 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 ($34,010 to $47,790) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,501 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 $30,589 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.