Food Preparation Workers in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,343
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$5,907
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,345
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$35,250
Kept after tax
$29,343
Worth in national money
$30,345
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Georgia is 22 of 51 states for food preparation workers, with a middle wage of $35,250. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Georgia this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, food preparation workers ranks 443. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Georgia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,250 the take-home is $29,343; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $30,345 would nationally. The average lands at $33,970, below the middle of the range.
- Georgia ranks 22 of 51 for food preparation workers at $35,250. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Georgia reports, food preparation workers ranks 443 of 492, 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.
- Post-tax income for food preparation workers in Georgia, on $35,250, is $29,343 — equivalent to $30,345 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $33,970 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,390 |
| This salary | $35,250 |
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 Georgia | $29,343 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,503 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,045 |
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 | $33,806 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,264 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Georgia earn less than $35,250. The published range is $24,840 up to $40,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $29,343 take-home in Georgia comes from $35,250. 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 443 of 492.
- Two cautions on $30,345, the adjusted value of that $35,250 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 443 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food preparation workers in Georgia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,840 to $40,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $29,343, from $35,250, assumes a single Georgia 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 443 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 51 for it.
- This $30,345 adjusted figure, worked from $35,250, 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 443 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 443 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $24,840 and the top tenth $40,390, so most people doing this work in Georgia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $30,345.
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; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $29,343.
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 Georgia is $33,970. 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 ($24,840 to $40,390) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $30,345 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 $29,343 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.