Waiters and Waitresses in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,481
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$5,289
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,514
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$33,770
Kept after tax
$28,481
Worth in national money
$31,514
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Nebraska pays waiters and waitresses around $33,770 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Nebraska publishes, waiters and waitresses lands at 461. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $33,770 you keep $28,481 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,514 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For waiters and waitresses the Nebraska median is $33,770, ranking 26 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 Nebraska, this work ranks 461 of 488 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.
- Retained pay in Nebraska is $28,481 after the full tax stack, from $33,770. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,514 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Waiters and Waitresses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,420 |
| This salary | $33,770 |
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 Nebraska | $28,481 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,314 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,348 |
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 | $32,733 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,630 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,770 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,080 and the ninetieth is $59,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Nebraska the take-home figure of $28,481, from $33,770, 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 461 of 488 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,514 uses one figure for the whole of Nebraska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 461.
- The Nebraska median of $33,770 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,080 to $59,420. 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 Nebraska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $28,481 from $33,770. 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 461 of 488 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,514, worked from $33,770, 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 Nebraska address, on work sitting at 461 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,080 and the top tenth $59,420 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nebraska sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $31,514 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Nebraska's own levy, $28,481 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 Nebraska is $39,590. 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 ($28,080) and the ninetieth ($59,420) 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?
Nebraska'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 $31,514 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 $28,481 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.