Food Preparation Workers in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,789
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$6,811
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,592
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$39,600
Kept after tax
$32,789
Worth in national money
$29,592
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays food preparation workers a middle wage of $39,600, ranking 2 of 51 states and sitting about 12.12% above the national middle.
- Within District of Columbia this is lower-paid work. Of 390 occupations the state publishes figures for, food preparation workers ranks 369. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $39,600, tax leaves $32,789 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,592 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $41,350, since top earners drag the number up.
- District of Columbia's median for food preparation workers is $39,600, about 12.12% above the national figure and 2 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.
- Against every occupation District of Columbia reports, food preparation workers ranks 369 of 390, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $32,789 remains from the District of Columbia median of $39,600 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,592 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $41,350 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,370 |
| This salary | $39,600 |
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 District of Columbia | $32,789 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,999 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,395 |
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 | $38,094 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,525 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
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 District of Columbia earn under $39,600 and half over. The published range runs $37,510 at the tenth percentile to $45,370 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,789 take-home in District of Columbia comes from $39,600. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 369 of 390.
- Two cautions on $29,592, the adjusted value of that $39,600 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 369 of 390 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for food preparation workers in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,510 to $45,370; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,789, from $39,600, assumes a single District of Columbia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 369 of 390 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- This $29,592 adjusted figure, worked from $39,600, 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 369 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 369 of 390 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 $41,350, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $37,510 at the bottom tenth to $45,370 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $29,592 of national purchasing power.
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; District of Columbia then takes its own share, leaving $32,789.
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 District of Columbia is $41,350. 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 ($37,510 to $45,370) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to District of Columbia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,592 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 $32,789 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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.