Waiters and Waitresses in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,012
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$13,378
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,127
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$62,390
Kept after tax
$49,012
Worth in national money
$45,127
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Hawaii is one of the better-paying states for waiters and waitresses. The middle earner takes $62,390, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 77.09% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Hawaii, this sits in the middle: 225 of 437 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $62,390 the take-home is $49,012; in national-average money that behaves like $45,127. The average comes to $68,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Hawaii ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for waiters and waitresses, at $62,390 — about 77.09% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Waiters and waitresses ranks 225 of 437 occupations in Hawaii by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for waiters and waitresses in Hawaii, on $62,390, is $49,012; deflated by the state's price level, $45,127. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $68,260 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 | $29,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $119,870 |
| This salary | $62,390 |
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 Hawaii | $49,012 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,704 |
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 | $58,285 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,527 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,390 as a midpoint for Hawaii, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,120 and the ninetieth is $119,870 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $49,012, from $62,390, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 225 of 437 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,127 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 225.
- The Hawaii median of $62,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,120 to $119,870. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,012 from $62,390. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 225 of 437 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,127, worked from $62,390, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 225 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $68,260 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,120 and the top tenth $119,870 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Hawaii run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $45,127 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $49,012 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Hawaii is $68,260. 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 ($29,120) and the ninetieth ($119,870) 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?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $45,127 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 $49,012 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.