Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,654
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$4,956
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,951
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
$29,610
Kept after tax
$24,654
Worth in national money
$25,951
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $29,610, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Utah, this one sits low: 479 of 487 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $29,610 the take-home is $24,654; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $25,951 would nationally. The average comes to $31,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Utah occupies the middle band for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop: a median of $29,610, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop occupies position 479 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.
- Post-tax income for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Utah, on $29,610, is $24,654 — equivalent to $25,951 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $31,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $22,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,100 |
| This salary | $29,610 |
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 | $24,654 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,972 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$776 |
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 | $27,983 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$938 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,610 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,040 and the ninetieth is $45,100 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $24,654, worked from $29,610. 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 479 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,951, the adjusted value of that $29,610 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 479 of 487 in the state.
- The Utah median of $29,610 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,040 to $45,100. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Utah take-home of $24,654, on $29,610 for work ranking 479 of 487 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 479 of 487 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $25,951 — the adjusted value of that $29,610 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 479 of 487 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 $31,670, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $22,040, the highest tenth $45,100, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $25,951 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Utah's own levy, $24,654 remains.
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 $31,670. 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 ($22,040) and the ninetieth ($45,100) 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?
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 $25,951 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 $24,654 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.