Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,142
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$6,778
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,674
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$37,920
Kept after tax
$31,142
Worth in national money
$28,674
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food servers, nonrestaurant is strong here. Hawaii's middle earner gets $37,920, putting the state 7 of 51 — about 7.24% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Hawaii this is lower-paid work. Of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 412. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $37,920 the take-home is $31,142; in national-average money that behaves like $28,674. The average comes to $45,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For food servers, nonrestaurant, Hawaii sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $37,920, ranking 7 of 51 and running about 7.24% 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.
- Against every occupation Hawaii reports, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 412 of 437, 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.
- Take-home for food servers, nonrestaurant in Hawaii, on $37,920, is $31,142; deflated by the state's price level, $28,674. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $45,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $68,170 |
| This salary | $37,920 |
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 Hawaii | $31,142 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,649 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,924 |
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 | $36,045 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,955 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Hawaii earn less than $37,920. The published range is $31,250 up to $68,170, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,142 take-home in Hawaii comes from $37,920. 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 412 of 437.
- One number stands for prices across all of Hawaii, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,674, the adjusted value of that $37,920 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 412 of 437 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for food servers, nonrestaurant in Hawaii the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,250 to $68,170. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,142, from $37,920, assumes a single Hawaii 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 412 of 437 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Hawaii, so $28,674 — the adjusted value of that $37,920 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 412 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $45,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,250 at the bottom tenth to $68,170 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,674 rather than its face figure.
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 Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,142 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 Hawaii is $45,670. 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 ($31,250) and the ninetieth ($68,170) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,674 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 $31,142 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.