Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,130
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$4,900
13.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,100
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
$36,030
Kept after tax
$31,130
Worth in national money
$32,100
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Nevada pays food servers, nonrestaurant a middle wage of $36,030, ranking 16 of 51 states and sitting about 1.89% above the national middle.
- Within Nevada this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 449. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,030 you keep $31,130 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,100 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,240, since top earners drag the number up.
- Nevada's median for food servers, nonrestaurant is $36,030, about 1.89% above the national figure and 16 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.
- Against every occupation Nevada reports, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 449 of 485, 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.
- Retained pay in Nevada is $31,130 after the full tax stack, from $36,030. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,100 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,240 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,000 |
| This salary | $36,030 |
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 | $31,130 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,130 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$64 |
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 | $36,030 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$78 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 servers, nonrestaurant in Nevada earn under $36,030 and half over. The published range runs $29,110 at the tenth percentile to $51,000 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Nevada the take-home figure of $31,130, from $36,030, 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 449 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 $32,100 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 449.
- Figures are distribution medians for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nevada, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,110 to $51,000; 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.
- Take-home for Nevada is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,130 from $36,030. 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 449 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,100, worked from $36,030, 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 449 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 $38,240, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,110 and the top tenth $51,000, so most people doing this work in Nevada sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $32,100 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $31,130 survives, because Nevada levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Nevada is $38,240. 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 ($29,110 to $51,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nevada rather than a national figure.
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 $32,100 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 $31,130 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.