Food Preparation Workers in Wyoming
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,194
after federal, FICA and Wyoming tax
Tax takes
$4,916
13.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,337
Wyoming costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wyoming — 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
$36,110
Kept after tax
$31,194
Worth in national money
$34,337
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Wyoming pays food preparation workers a middle wage of $36,110, ranking 13 of 51 states and sitting about 2.24% above the national middle.
- Against 433 occupations Wyoming publishes, food preparation workers lands at 392. 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 $36,110 you keep $31,194 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,337 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $35,210.
- Wyoming's median for food preparation workers is $36,110, about 2.24% above the national figure and 13 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.
- Within Wyoming, this work ranks 392 of 433 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 Wyoming is $31,194 after the full tax stack, from $36,110. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,337 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $35,210 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,590 |
| This salary | $36,110 |
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 Wyoming | $31,194 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,194 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,236 |
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 | $36,110 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,704 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 Wyoming earn under $36,110 and half over. The published range runs $22,880 at the tenth percentile to $46,590 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,194 take-home in Wyoming comes from $36,110. 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 392 of 433.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wyoming, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,337, the adjusted value of that $36,110 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 392 of 433 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for food preparation workers in Wyoming, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,880 to $46,590; 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 $31,194, from $36,110, assumes a single Wyoming 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 392 of 433 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wyoming, so $34,337 — the adjusted value of that $36,110 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 392 of 433 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,880 at the tenth percentile, $46,590 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wyoming is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,337 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $31,194 of this wage reaches your account, because Wyoming 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,880 to $46,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wyoming rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wyoming'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 $34,337 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?
Wyoming levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,194 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.