SALARY · COOKS, RESTAURANT · PENNSYLVANIA

Cooks, Restaurant salary in Pennsylvania

If you are weighing a move, or weighing whether to stay, this is the number that matters first. In Pennsylvania, the middle cooks, restaurant earned $36,580 a year in the latest BLS release. Half earned more than that and half earned less, so treat it as a realistic middle point, not a promise and not a ceiling.

MEDIAN ANNUAL SALARY

$36,580

$18 per hour at the median · That is $810 (2.2 percent) below the national median of $37,390 for this occupation.

$35,750Mean annual salary
$17Mean hourly wage
$54,100People employed in this job in Pennsylvania

Salary range

25th: $29,890Median: $36,58075th: $39,710
MeasureAnnual
25th percentile$29,890
Median (50th percentile)$36,580
75th percentile$39,710
Mean$35,750

The middle half of workers earned from $29,890 to $39,710 a year. The gap between the mean and the median tells its own story. When the mean sits above the median, a smaller group at the top is pulling the average up. When the two are close, pay is more even across the field.

What stays in your pocket on the median salary

ESTIMATED TAKE-HOME PAY

$30,449 a year
$2,537 a month
Federal tax $2,210 · FICA $2,798 · State tax $1,123

Caveat: the $0 deduction point for Pennsylvania was corroborated from a secondary host of the 2025 booklet, not from a pa.gov page.

Pennsylvania local earned income tax and the Philadelphia wage tax are separate and are not in this figure.

Read this before you use the take-home figure. It is a single-filer estimate using the 2026 standard deduction. It leaves out credits, other deductions, local taxes, and retirement or health deductions. Your actual paycheck can differ, and for states without a verified 2026 table in this build, state tax is still to be added once its table is verified.

Same job, other states

Other jobs in Pennsylvania

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