Food Preparation Workers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,197
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$4,503
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,334
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$29,700
Kept after tax
$25,197
Worth in national money
$27,334
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays food preparation workers a middle wage of $29,700, 43 of 51 states and about 15.91% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, food preparation workers ranks 478. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $29,700 the take-home is $25,197; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,334 would nationally. The average comes to $31,560, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Indiana's $29,700 median for food preparation workers places it 43 of 51 states, about 15.91% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, food preparation workers ranks 478 of 493, 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 Indiana, on $29,700, is $25,197 — equivalent to $27,334 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 $31,560 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,050 |
| This salary | $29,700 |
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 Indiana | $25,197 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,044 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$533 |
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 | $28,646 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$644 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,700 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,170 and the ninetieth is $39,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $25,197 take-home in Indiana comes from $29,700. 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 478 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,334 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 478.
- The Indiana median of $29,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,170 to $39,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $25,197, from $29,700, assumes a single Indiana 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 478 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,334, worked from $29,700, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 478 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $31,560 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $23,170 at the tenth percentile, $39,050 at the ninetieth.
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 $27,334.
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 Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,197 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 Indiana is $31,560. 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 ($23,170 to $39,050) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $27,334 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 $25,197 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.