Food Service Managers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,219
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$12,531
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,558
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$64,750
Kept after tax
$52,219
Worth in national money
$53,558
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food service managers is on the low side in Pennsylvania. The middle earner gets $64,750. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 6.69% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Food service managers ranks 192 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $64,750, take-home of $52,219 is worth roughly $53,558 in national money. The average comes to $69,090, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For food service managers, Pennsylvania sits in the lower band at $64,750, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 6.69%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 192 of 492 in Pennsylvania places food service managers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for food service managers, whose median is $64,750, the adjusted figure of $53,558 differs little from $52,219 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $69,090 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Service Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,660 |
| This salary | $64,750 |
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 Pennsylvania | $52,219 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,207 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,225 |
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 | $62,276 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,691 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 service managers in Pennsylvania earn under $64,750 and half over. The published range runs $43,900 at the tenth percentile to $94,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $52,219, worked from $64,750. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 192 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,558, the adjusted value of that $64,750 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 192 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for food service managers in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,900 to $94,660; 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.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $52,219, on $64,750 for work ranking 192 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 192 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $53,558 — the adjusted value of that $64,750 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 192 of 492 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 $69,090 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $43,900 and the top tenth $94,660 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $53,558 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $52,219 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 Pennsylvania is $69,090. 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 ($43,900) and the ninetieth ($94,660) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $53,558 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 $52,219 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.