Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Vermont

Fresh vegetables and a plated meal at a professional kitchen prep station.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$26,368

after federal, FICA and Vermont tax

Tax takes

$4,712

15.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$27,286

Vermont costs less than average

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

$31,080

Kept after tax

$26,368

Worth in national money

$27,286

State rank

19

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Neither high nor low. Vermont is 19 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $31,080. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
  • Within Vermont this is lower-paid work. Of 453 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 452. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $31,080 you keep $26,368 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,286 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $35,670, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Vermont ranks 19 of 51 for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop at $31,080. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
  • Against every occupation Vermont reports, hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ranks 452 of 453, 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 Vermont is $26,368 after the full tax stack, from $31,080. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,286 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $35,670 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$29,780
Half earn under$31,080
Top tenth earn over$47,670
This salary$31,080

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

Compare with
+$785take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Vermont$26,368
Take-home in Texas$27,153
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$656

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

Moving to
$0now · $31,080$30,287
$30,287in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$30,103
You could take a cut of−$794
Prices in Texas97 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 hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Vermont earn under $31,080 and half over. The published range runs $29,780 at the tenth percentile to $47,670 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 Vermont's $26,368, worked from $31,080. 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 452 of 453.
  • Two cautions on $27,286, the adjusted value of that $31,080 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Vermont. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 452 of 453 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Vermont, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,780 to $47,670; 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 Vermont take-home of $26,368, on $31,080 for work ranking 452 of 453 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 452 of 453 in the state.
  • This $27,286 adjusted figure, worked from $31,080, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 452 of 453 in the state. The occupation ranks 452 of 453 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $35,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,780 at the tenth percentile, $47,670 at the ninetieth.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,286 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 Vermont's own levy, $26,368 remains.

Can I compare this job across every state?

Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.

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 Vermont is $35,670. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,780 to $47,670) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Vermont'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 $27,286 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 $26,368 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.