Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,079
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$5,091
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,398
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$30,170
Kept after tax
$25,079
Worth in national money
$26,398
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah is among the lower-paying states for food servers, nonrestaurant. The middle earner takes $30,170, ranking 42 of 51 states — about 14.68% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Utah, this one sits low: 478 of 487 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,170 you keep $25,079 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,398 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah ranks 42 of 51 for food servers, nonrestaurant, with a median of $30,170 — about 14.68% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Food servers, nonrestaurant occupies position 478 of 487 in Utah's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Utah is $25,079 after the full tax stack, from $30,170. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,398 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,600 |
| This salary | $30,170 |
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 Utah | $25,079 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,422 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$791 |
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 | $28,499 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$957 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Utah earn less than $30,170. The published range is $23,120 up to $41,600, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $25,079 take-home in Utah comes from $30,170. 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 478 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,398, the adjusted value of that $30,170 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 478 of 487 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for food servers, nonrestaurant in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,120 to $41,600. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $25,079, from $30,170, assumes a single Utah 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 478 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $26,398 — the adjusted value of that $30,170 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 478 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $31,930 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,120 at the bottom tenth to $41,600 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $26,398 in national terms.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,079 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 Utah is $31,930. 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 ($23,120 to $41,600) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $26,398 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,079 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.