What Food Preparation Workers earn in Queen Anne's County, MD
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $35,080: the median annual pay for Food Preparation Workers in Queen Anne's County, MD. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $16.87 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $36,910, which is 5.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 6,830 people working in this occupation across the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Queen Anne's County, MD has roughly 51,825 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Food Preparation Workers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,470 a year ($15.13 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $46,780 or more ($22.49 an hour). That is a gap of $15,310 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $33,540 at the 25th percentile and $37,330 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 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: $16.87 an hour or $35,080 a year at the median for Queen Anne's County, MD. Before any deductions, that is $2,923 a month, $1,349 every two weeks and $675 each week. After taxes the same job pays $13.93 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Food Preparation Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Food Preparation Workers this way: "Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage"; "Portion and wrap food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons"; "Place food trays over food warmers for immediate service, or store them in refrigerated storage cabinets"; "Weigh or measure ingredients".
Job outlook for Food Preparation Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 908,500 jobs in 2025 to 881,300 in 2035, a change of -3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 135,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 14.9% 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 $35,320 for this occupation; the Queen Anne's County, MD median of $35,080 is 0.7% below it.
How pay in Queen Anne's County, MD compares
Compared with the Maryland average
Pay in Queen Anne's County, MD runs $822 below the Maryland average of $35,902, a gap of 2.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Maryland would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Maryland, the highest median we track for this job is $37,630 in Montgomery County, MD.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Food Preparation Workers is $34,184 across the contiguous United States. At $35,080, Queen Anne's County, MD pays $896 more, which is 2.6% 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 Queen Anne's County, MD
Among the 552 occupations with published wages in Queen Anne's County, MD, Food Preparation Workers ranks number 534 by median pay, ahead of about 3% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $168,520 a year, which is $133,440 more than the median for Food Preparation 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 Food Preparation Workers earning the Queen Anne's County, MD median of $35,080, they add up to $6,098. The result is $28,982 of take-home pay a year ($2,415 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $19,330. 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 $2,081, an effective 5.9% 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 $2,175 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $509. FICA totals $2,684, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Maryland
Maryland income tax on this salary is $1,334 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 64% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $111 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 Queen Anne's County, MD
IRS Statistics of Income data for Queen Anne's County, MD show an average adjusted gross income of $120,471 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.6%, compared with the 5.9% 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 Queen Anne's County, MD
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Queen Anne's County, MD: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $28,982 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Queen Anne's County, MD, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,625 a month ($19,500 a year), and at $2,006 for two bedrooms. For Food Preparation Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 67.3% of take-home pay and 55.6% 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 9.8% of gross pay for Food Preparation Workers in Queen Anne's County, MD. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Maryland residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,887 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $634, for $2,521 in total. Gasoline in Maryland averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,539.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,996 a year in Queen Anne's County, MD. Subtract that from $28,982 of take-home pay and $1,986 remains, which is $166 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 5.7% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Queen Anne's County, MD
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Queen Anne's County, MD: 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 Queen Anne's County, MD, set beside the Maryland and national medians.
Property taxes in Queen Anne's County, MD
Homeowners in Queen Anne's County, MD pay a median of $3,623 a year in real estate taxes, 11% below the Maryland median of $4,093 and 16% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $462,700, the median tax bill is 0.78% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Food Preparation Workers median of $35,080, a tax bill of that size would equal 10.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Queen Anne's County, MD
Renters in Queen Anne's County, MD pay a median gross rent of $1,619 a month in the Census survey, 5% below the Maryland median of $1,705. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,625 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 $462,700, 10% above the Maryland median of $419,900. Median household income is $112,826, 9% above the Maryland median of $103,678, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.3% of that income.
Commuting in Queen Anne's County, MD
Workers in Queen Anne's County, MD who travel to a workplace spend an average of 33.2 minutes each way, 7% above the Maryland average of 31.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.0% of workers in Queen Anne's County, MD work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Food Preparation Workers afford to live in Queen Anne's County, MD?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $35,080 that ceiling is $877 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,625 is $748 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.25 an hour; the median for Food Preparation Workers is $16.87, which is 46% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.93 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,006 a month means $1,003 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,464 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,450.
How fast you can save
At $166 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 61 months (5.1 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 122 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Food Preparation Workers pay in Queen Anne's County, MD
How much do Food Preparation Workers make per hour in Queen Anne's County, MD?
The median is $16.87 per hour, based on $35,080 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.13 at the 10th percentile to $22.49 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Food Preparation Workers take home after taxes in Queen Anne's County, MD?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $35,080 becomes $28,982 a year. That is $2,415 a month, $1,115 every two weeks or $557 a week.
How much tax do Food Preparation Workers pay in Queen Anne's County, MD?
Total taxes are $6,098 a year, an effective rate of 17.4%: $2,081 federal income tax, $2,684 FICA and $1,334 Maryland income tax.
Do Food Preparation Workers earn more in Queen Anne's County, MD than elsewhere in Maryland?
No. The local median of $35,080 is -2.3% versus the Maryland average of $35,902, a difference of $822 a year.
Can Food Preparation Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Queen Anne's County, MD?
A one-bedroom costs $1,625 a month against take-home pay of $2,415, which is 67.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $877 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Food Preparation Workers in Queen Anne's County, MD?
About $166 a month ($1,986 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,996 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Queen Anne's County, MD at the 30% guideline?
$31.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,500 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Food Preparation Workers is $16.87.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD 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 Maryland 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.