What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Santa Barbara County, CA
The median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Santa Barbara County, CA is $42,940 per year, which works out to $20.64 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metropolitan area, the labor market that Santa Barbara County, CA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $41,320, which is 3.8% below the median, which suggests many workers sit near the top of the pay scale. The survey counts about 5,930 people working in this occupation across the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Santa Barbara County, CA has roughly 443,701 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $35,280 a year ($16.96 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $46,520 or more ($22.37 an hour). That is a gap of $11,240 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,550 at the 25th percentile and $44,240 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $20.64 an hour or $42,940 a year at the median for Santa Barbara County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $3,578 a month, $1,652 every two weeks and $826 each week. After taxes the same job pays $17.26 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Fast Food and Counter Workers this way: "Perform duties such as taking orders and serving food and beverages. Serve customers at counter or from a steam table. May take payment. May prepare food and beverages."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints"; "Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary"; "Scrub and polish counters, steam tables, and other equipment, and clean glasses, dishes, and fountain equipment"; "Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary".
Job outlook for Fast Food and Counter Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,855,900 jobs in 2025 to 4,079,100 in 2035, a change of +5.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 827,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 21.5% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $31,200 for this occupation; the Santa Barbara County, CA median of $42,940 is 37.6% above it.
How pay in Santa Barbara County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
A worker in this occupation in Santa Barbara County, CA earns $618 more than the California average of $42,322, a premium of 1.5%. Over a year that premium is worth $618 before tax and roughly $516 after tax. Within California, the highest median we track for this job is $44,570 in Santa Clara County, CA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $31,431 across the contiguous United States. At $42,940, Santa Barbara County, CA pays $11,509 more, which is 36.6% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Santa Barbara County, CA
Among the 391 occupations with published wages in Santa Barbara County, CA, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 337 by median pay, ahead of about 14% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse at $36,230 a year, which is $6,710 less than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Fast Food and Counter Workers earning the Santa Barbara County, CA median of $42,940, they add up to $7,039. The result is $35,901 of take-home pay a year ($2,992 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $27,190. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $3,024, an effective 7.0% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,662 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $623. FICA totals $3,285, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $729 a year, or 1.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 24% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $61 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Santa Barbara County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Santa Barbara County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $109,935 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.9%, compared with the 7.0% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Santa Barbara County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Santa Barbara County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $35,901 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Santa Barbara County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,711 a month ($32,532 a year), and at $3,106 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 90.6% of take-home pay and 75.8% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 8.0% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Santa Barbara County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
The basics cost $42,143 a year in Santa Barbara County, CA, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $35,901. That is a shortfall of $6,242 a year, or $520 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 362 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $17.26, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Santa Barbara County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Santa Barbara County, CA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Santa Barbara County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Santa Barbara County, CA
Homeowners in Santa Barbara County, CA pay a median of $5,103 a year in real estate taxes, in line with the California median of $5,124 and 64% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $790,700, the median tax bill is 0.65% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $42,940, a tax bill of that size would equal 11.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Santa Barbara County, CA
Renters in Santa Barbara County, CA pay a median gross rent of $2,131 a month in the Census survey, 5% above the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,711 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $790,700, 8% above the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $98,161, in line with the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 33.1% of that income.
Commuting in Santa Barbara County, CA
Workers in Santa Barbara County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 20.8 minutes each way, 28% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 13.4% of workers in Santa Barbara County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Santa Barbara County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $42,940 that ceiling is $1,074 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,711 is $1,638 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $52.13 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $20.64, which is 60% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $17.26 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 36.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $3,106 a month means $1,553 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $13,896 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $7,654, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $42,940 median, lower housing costs than the $2,711 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Santa Barbara County, CA
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Santa Barbara County, CA?
The median is $20.64 per hour, based on $42,940 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.96 at the 10th percentile to $22.37 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Santa Barbara County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $42,940 becomes $35,901 a year. That is $2,992 a month, $1,381 every two weeks or $690 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Santa Barbara County, CA?
Total taxes are $7,039 a year, an effective rate of 16.4%: $3,024 federal income tax, $3,285 FICA and $729 California income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Santa Barbara County, CA than elsewhere in California?
Yes. The local median of $42,940 is +1.5% versus the California average of $42,322, a difference of $618 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Barbara County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,711 a month against take-home pay of $2,992, which is 90.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,074 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Santa Barbara County, CA?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $42,143 a year, which is $6,242 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $520.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Santa Barbara County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$52.13 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $32,532 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $20.64.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the California rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.