Waiters and Waitresses in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,238
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$4,912
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,934
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$32,150
Kept after tax
$27,238
Worth in national money
$28,934
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Carolina is 27 of 51 states for waiters and waitresses, with a middle wage of $32,150. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, waiters and waitresses ranks 465. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $32,150 you keep $27,238 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,934 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina ranks 27 of 51 for waiters and waitresses at $32,150. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, waiters and waitresses ranks 465 of 489, 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 North Carolina is $27,238 after the full tax stack, from $32,150. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,934 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,850 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 | $17,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,670 |
| This salary | $32,150 |
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 North Carolina | $27,238 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,013 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$107 |
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 | $31,187 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$130 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 waiters and waitresses in North Carolina earn under $32,150 and half over. The published range runs $17,140 at the tenth percentile to $62,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $27,238 take-home in North Carolina comes from $32,150. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 465 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,934, the adjusted value of that $32,150 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 465 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for waiters and waitresses in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $17,140 to $62,670; 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.
- Retained pay of $27,238, from $32,150, assumes a single North Carolina filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 465 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $28,934 — the adjusted value of that $32,150 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 465 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 $37,850, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $17,140, the highest tenth $62,670, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,934 in national terms.
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 North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $27,238 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 North Carolina is $37,850. 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 ($17,140) and the ninetieth ($62,670) 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?
North Carolina'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 $28,934 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 $27,238 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.