Waiters and Waitresses in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,276
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$3,034
11.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$22,884
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$26,310
Kept after tax
$23,276
Worth in national money
$22,884
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for waiters and waitresses is on the low side in Alaska. The middle earner gets $26,310. That is 40 of 51 states, and about 25.32% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 430 occupations Alaska publishes, waiters and waitresses lands at 430. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $26,310, take-home of $23,276 is worth roughly $22,884 in national money. The average comes to $33,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For waiters and waitresses, Alaska sits in the lower band at $26,310, ranking 40 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 25.32%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Alaska, this work ranks 430 of 430 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 Alaska is near the national base, so for waiters and waitresses, whose median is $26,310, the adjusted figure of $22,884 differs little from $23,276 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $33,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Waiters and Waitresses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,080 |
| This salary | $26,310 |
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 Alaska | $23,276 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,276 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,069 |
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 | $26,310 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,262 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $26,310. The published range is $24,770 up to $64,080, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $23,276, worked from $26,310. 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 430 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $22,884, the adjusted value of that $26,310 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 430 of 430 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for waiters and waitresses in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,770 to $64,080. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alaska take-home of $23,276, on $26,310 for work ranking 430 of 430 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 430 of 430 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $22,884 — the adjusted value of that $26,310 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 430 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $33,640, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $24,770 at the bottom tenth to $64,080 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $22,884 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $23,276 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 Alaska is $33,640. 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 ($24,770) and the ninetieth ($64,080) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $22,884 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?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $23,276 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.