What Cooks, Fast Food earn in Lincoln County, NC
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $27,690: the median annual pay for Cooks, Fast Food in Lincoln County, NC. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $13.31 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $28,720, which is 3.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 15,830 people working in this occupation across the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lincoln County, NC has roughly 92,716 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cooks, Fast Food in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,430 a year ($10.78 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $35,720 or more ($17.17 an hour). That is a gap of $13,290 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $24,080 at the 25th percentile and $30,840 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $13.31 an hour or $27,690 a year at the median for Lincoln County, NC. Before any deductions, that is $2,308 a month, $1,065 every two weeks and $533 each week. After taxes the same job pays $11.41 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cooks, Fast Food
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cooks, Fast Food this way: "Prepare and cook food in a fast food restaurant with a limited menu. Duties of these cooks are limited to preparation of a few basic items and normally involve operating large-volume single-purpose cooking equipment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain sanitation, health, and safety standards in work areas"; "Clean food preparation areas, cooking surfaces, and utensils"; "Operate large-volume cooking equipment, such as grills, deep-fat fryers, or griddles"; "Verify that prepared food meets requirements for quality and quantity".
Job outlook for Cooks, Fast Food
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 640,500 jobs in 2025 to 644,100 in 2035, a change of +0.6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 86,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.5% 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 $30,890 for this occupation; the Lincoln County, NC median of $27,690 is 10.4% below it.
How pay in Lincoln County, NC compares
Compared with the North Carolina average
A worker in this occupation in Lincoln County, NC earns $1,110 more than the North Carolina average of $26,580, a premium of 4.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,110 before tax and roughly $951 after tax. Within North Carolina, the highest median we track for this job is $28,220 in Wake County, NC.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Fast Food is $31,678 across the contiguous United States. At $27,690, Lincoln County, NC pays $3,988 less, which is 12.6% 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 Lincoln County, NC
Among the 583 occupations with published wages in Lincoln County, NC, Cooks, Fast Food ranks number 583 by median pay, ahead of about 0% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $176,840 a year, which is $149,150 more than the median for Cooks, Fast Food.
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 Cooks, Fast Food earning the Lincoln County, NC median of $27,690, they add up to $3,948. The result is $23,742 of take-home pay a year ($1,979 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 14.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $11,940. 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 $1,194, an effective 4.3% 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 $1,717 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $402. FICA totals $2,118, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in North Carolina
North Carolina income tax on this salary is $635 a year, or 2.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 53% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $53 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 Lincoln County, NC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lincoln County, NC show an average adjusted gross income of $90,654 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 4.3% 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 Lincoln County, NC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lincoln County, NC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $23,742 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Lincoln County, NC, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,045 a month ($12,540 a year), and at $1,138 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Fast Food, a one-bedroom absorbs 52.8% of take-home pay and 45.3% 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 12.4% of gross pay for Cooks, Fast Food in Lincoln 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 $19,586 a year in Lincoln County, NC. Subtract that from $23,742 of take-home pay and $4,157 remains, which is $346 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 15.0% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Lincoln County, NC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County, NC, set beside the North Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Lincoln County, NC
Homeowners in Lincoln County, NC pay a median of $1,856 a year in real estate taxes, 2% below the North Carolina median of $1,896 and 40% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $321,000, the median tax bill is 0.58% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Fast Food median of $27,690, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lincoln County, NC
Renters in Lincoln County, NC pay a median gross rent of $1,015 a month in the Census survey, 17% 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 $1,045 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 $321,000, 11% above the North Carolina median of $288,900. Median household income is $80,016, 11% above the North Carolina median of $72,388, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.7% of that income.
Commuting in Lincoln County, NC
Workers in Lincoln County, NC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 29.3 minutes each way, 17% above the North Carolina average of 25.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.3% of workers in Lincoln County, NC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Fast Food afford to live in Lincoln 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 $27,690 that ceiling is $692 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,045 is $353 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $20.10 an hour; the median for Cooks, Fast Food is $13.31, which is 34% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.41 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 21.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,138 a month means $569 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,712 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,869.
How fast you can save
At $346 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 29 months (2.4 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 58 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Fast Food pay in Lincoln County, NC
How much do Cooks, Fast Food make per hour in Lincoln County, NC?
The median is $13.31 per hour, based on $27,690 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.78 at the 10th percentile to $17.17 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Fast Food take home after taxes in Lincoln County, NC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $27,690 becomes $23,742 a year. That is $1,979 a month, $913 every two weeks or $457 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Fast Food pay in Lincoln County, NC?
Total taxes are $3,948 a year, an effective rate of 14.3%: $1,194 federal income tax, $2,118 FICA and $635 North Carolina income tax.
Do Cooks, Fast Food earn more in Lincoln County, NC than elsewhere in North Carolina?
Yes. The local median of $27,690 is +4.2% versus the North Carolina average of $26,580, a difference of $1,110 a year.
Can Cooks, Fast Food afford a one-bedroom apartment in Lincoln County, NC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,045 a month against take-home pay of $1,979, which is 52.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $692 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Fast Food in Lincoln County, NC?
About $346 a month ($4,157 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $19,586 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lincoln County, NC at the 30% guideline?
$20.10 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $12,540 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Fast Food is $13.31.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC 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.