Food Preparation Workers in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,544
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$7,906
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,212
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$37,450
Kept after tax
$29,544
Worth in national money
$28,212
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food preparation workers is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $37,450, putting the state 7 of 51 — about 6.03% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 489 occupations Oregon publishes, food preparation workers lands at 470. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Oregon is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $37,450 the take-home is $29,544; in national-average money that behaves like $28,212. The average comes to $39,510, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For food preparation workers, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $37,450, ranking 7 of 51 and running about 6.03% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Oregon, this work ranks 470 of 489 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 Oregon, on $37,450, is $29,544; deflated by the state's price level, $28,212. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $39,510 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 | $31,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,580 |
| This salary | $37,450 |
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 Oregon | $29,544 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,271 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,997 |
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 | $34,056 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,043 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Oregon earn less than $37,450. The published range is $31,560 up to $48,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Oregon the take-home figure of $29,544, from $37,450, 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 470 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $28,212, the adjusted value of that $37,450 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oregon. 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 470 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food preparation workers in Oregon the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,560 to $48,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Oregon is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,544 from $37,450. 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 470 of 489 locally.
- This $28,212 adjusted figure, worked from $37,450, 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 470 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 470 of 489 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 $39,510, 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 — $31,560 at the tenth percentile, $48,580 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Oregon run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $28,212 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; Oregon then takes its own share, leaving $29,544.
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 Oregon is $39,510. 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 ($31,560 to $48,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,212 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 $29,544 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.