Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,686
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$4,804
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,495
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$30,490
Kept after tax
$25,686
Worth in national money
$25,495
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $30,490 at the midpoint, 20 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, this job lands at 482. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $30,490, take-home of $25,686 is worth roughly $25,495 in national money. The average comes to $33,240, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop the Virginia median is $30,490, ranking 20 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 482 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop, whose median is $30,490, the adjusted figure of $25,495 differs little from $25,686 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $33,240 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,630 |
| This salary | $30,490 |
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 Virginia | $25,686 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,679 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,959 |
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 | $29,255 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,360 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,490 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,230 and the ninetieth is $44,630 — 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 Virginia's $25,686, worked from $30,490. 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 482 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,495, the adjusted value of that $30,490 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 482 of 489 in the state.
- The Virginia median of $30,490 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,230 to $44,630. 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 Virginia take-home of $25,686, on $30,490 for work ranking 482 of 489 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 482 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $25,495 — the adjusted value of that $30,490 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 482 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,240, 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 — $27,230 at the tenth percentile, $44,630 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $25,495 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Virginia's own levy, $25,686 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 Virginia is $33,240. 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 ($27,230 to $44,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $25,495 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,686 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.