What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Guilford County, NC
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $28,200: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Guilford County, NC. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $13.56 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Greensboro-High Point, NC metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $28,490, which is 1.0% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 6,790 people working in this occupation across the Greensboro-High Point, NC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Guilford County, NC has roughly 547,940 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 Greensboro-High Point, NC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $21,450 a year ($10.31 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,190 or more ($17.40 an hour). That is a gap of $14,740 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $22,810 at the 25th percentile and $33,620 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 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: $13.56 an hour or $28,200 a year at the median for Guilford County, NC. Before any deductions, that is $2,350 a month, $1,085 every two weeks and $542 each week. After taxes the same job pays $11.60 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 Guilford County, NC median of $28,200 is 9.6% below it.
How pay in Guilford County, NC compares
Compared with the North Carolina average
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Guilford County, NC is in line with the statewide figure: $28,200 locally against an employment-weighted North Carolina average of $28,416, a difference of only $216 (0.8%). Within North Carolina, the highest median we track for this job is $29,080 in Wake County, NC.
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 $28,200, Guilford County, NC pays $3,231 less, which is 10.3% below 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 Guilford County, NC
Among the 456 occupations with published wages in Guilford County, NC, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 453 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Customer Service Representatives at $41,240 a year, which is $13,040 more 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 Guilford County, NC median of $28,200, they add up to $4,069. The result is $24,131 of take-home pay a year ($2,011 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $12,450. 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 $1,256, an effective 4.5% 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 $1,748 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $409. FICA totals $2,157, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in North Carolina
North Carolina income tax on this salary is $657 a year, or 2.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 52% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $55 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 Guilford County, NC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Guilford County, NC show an average adjusted gross income of $81,324 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 4.5% 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 Guilford County, NC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Guilford County, NC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,131 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Guilford County, NC, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,168 a month ($14,016 a year), and at $1,271 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 58.1% of take-home pay and 49.7% 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 12.2% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Guilford County, NC. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using North Carolina residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,493 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $645, for $2,138 in total. Gasoline in North Carolina averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,472.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $21,062 a year in Guilford County, NC. Subtract that from $24,131 of take-home pay and $3,069 remains, which is $256 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 10.9% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Guilford County, NC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Guilford County, NC: 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 Guilford County, NC, set beside the North Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Guilford County, NC
Homeowners in Guilford County, NC pay a median of $2,174 a year in real estate taxes, 15% above the North Carolina median of $1,896 and 30% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $259,900, the median tax bill is 0.84% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $28,200, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Guilford County, NC
Renters in Guilford County, NC pay a median gross rent of $1,163 a month in the Census survey, 5% below the North Carolina median of $1,228. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,168 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 $259,900, 10% below the North Carolina median of $288,900. Median household income is $68,642, 5% below the North Carolina median of $72,388, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.4% of that income.
Commuting in Guilford County, NC
Workers in Guilford County, NC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 22.0 minutes each way, 12% below the North Carolina average of 25.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 13.9% of workers in Guilford County, NC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Guilford County, NC?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $28,200 that ceiling is $705 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,168 is $463 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.46 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.56, which is 40% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.60 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 23.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,271 a month means $636 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,390 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,459.
How fast you can save
At $256 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 40 months (3.3 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 80 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Guilford County, NC
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Guilford County, NC?
The median is $13.56 per hour, based on $28,200 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.31 at the 10th percentile to $17.40 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Guilford County, NC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $28,200 becomes $24,131 a year. That is $2,011 a month, $928 every two weeks or $464 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Guilford County, NC?
Total taxes are $4,069 a year, an effective rate of 14.4%: $1,256 federal income tax, $2,157 FICA and $657 North Carolina income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Guilford County, NC than elsewhere in North Carolina?
It is about the same. The local median of $28,200 is within 0.8% of the North Carolina average of $28,416.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Guilford County, NC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,168 a month against take-home pay of $2,011, which is 58.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $705 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Guilford County, NC?
About $256 a month ($3,069 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,062 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Guilford County, NC at the 30% guideline?
$22.46 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,016 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.56.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Greensboro-High Point, NC 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 North Carolina 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.