Food Preparation Workers in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,065
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$4,395
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,970
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$33,460
Kept after tax
$29,065
Worth in national money
$29,970
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Nevada pays food preparation workers around $33,460 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 485 occupations Nevada publishes, food preparation workers lands at 458. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $33,460 you keep $29,065 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $29,970 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,290, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food preparation workers the Nevada median is $33,460, ranking 31 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Nevada, this work ranks 458 of 485 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.
- Retained pay in Nevada is $29,065 after the full tax stack, from $33,460. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $29,970 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,290 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 | $26,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,600 |
| This salary | $33,460 |
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 Nevada | $29,065 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,065 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$60 |
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 | $33,460 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$73 |
| 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 Nevada earn less than $33,460. The published range is $26,140 up to $50,600, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Nevada the take-home figure of $29,065, from $33,460, 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 458 of 485 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,970 uses one figure for the whole of Nevada. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 458.
- Reported values are medians; for food preparation workers in Nevada the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,140 to $50,600. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Nevada is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,065 from $33,460. 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 458 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,970, worked from $33,460, 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 Nevada address, on work sitting at 458 of 485 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 $36,290, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $26,140 at the bottom tenth to $50,600 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nevada sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $29,970 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $29,065 of this wage reaches your account, because Nevada 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Nevada is $36,290. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($26,140) and the ninetieth ($50,600) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nevada'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 $29,970 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?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $29,065 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.