Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,132
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$3,678
12.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,260
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$29,810
Kept after tax
$26,132
Worth in national money
$25,260
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Florida is 24 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $29,810. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Florida this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 488. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $29,810, tax leaves $26,132 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $25,260 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $33,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida ranks 24 of 51 for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop at $29,810. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Florida reports, hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ranks 488 of 493, 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.
- After tax, $26,132 remains from the Florida median of $29,810 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $25,260 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $33,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,680 |
| This salary | $29,810 |
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 Florida | $26,132 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,132 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,632 |
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 | $29,810 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,957 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
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 hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Florida earn under $29,810 and half over. The published range runs $27,750 at the tenth percentile to $43,680 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 Florida's $26,132, worked from $29,810. 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 488 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $25,260 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 488.
- Figures are distribution medians for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Florida, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,750 to $43,680; 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 Florida take-home of $26,132, on $29,810 for work ranking 488 of 493 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 488 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $25,260, worked from $29,810, 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 Florida address, on work sitting at 488 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,750 at the bottom tenth to $43,680 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $25,260 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $26,132 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Florida is $33,170. 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 ($27,750 to $43,680) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $25,260 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $26,132 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.