What Cooks, Short Order earn in Somerset County, NJ
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $35,360: the median annual pay for Cooks, Short Order in Somerset County, NJ. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $17.00 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $39,330, which is 11.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,990 people working in this occupation across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Somerset County, NJ has roughly 349,846 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cooks, Short Order in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $33,040 a year ($15.88 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $49,930 or more ($24.00 an hour). That is a gap of $16,890 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $34,820 at the 25th percentile and $44,060 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: $17.00 an hour or $35,360 a year at the median for Somerset County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $2,947 a month, $1,360 every two weeks and $680 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.43 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cooks, Short Order
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cooks, Short Order this way: "Prepare and cook to order a variety of foods that require only a short preparation time. May take orders from customers and serve patrons at counters or tables."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Clean food preparation equipment, work areas, and counters or tables"; "Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time"; "Grill, cook, and fry foods such as french fries, eggs, and pancakes"; "Take orders from customers and cook foods requiring short preparation times, according to customer requirements".
Job outlook for Cooks, Short Order
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 138,700 jobs in 2025 to 131,500 in 2035, a change of -5.2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 17,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 12.5% 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 $35,880 for this occupation; the Somerset County, NJ median of $35,360 is 1.4% below it.
How pay in Somerset County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
A worker in this occupation in Somerset County, NJ earns $504 more than the New Jersey average of $34,856, a premium of 1.4%. Over a year that premium is worth $504 before tax and roughly $428 after tax. Within New Jersey, Somerset County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Short Order is $35,978 across the contiguous United States. At $35,360, Somerset County, NJ pays $618 less, which is 1.7% 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 Somerset County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Somerset County, NJ, Cooks, Short Order ranks number 669 by median pay, ahead of about 0% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $425,440 more than the median for Cooks, Short Order.
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, Short Order earning the Somerset County, NJ median of $35,360, they add up to $5,351. The result is $30,009 of take-home pay a year ($2,501 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $19,610. 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 $2,115, an effective 6.0% 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 $2,192 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $513. FICA totals $2,705, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $531 a year, or 1.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 25% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $44 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 Somerset County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Somerset County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $153,889 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 18.5% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.5%, compared with the 6.0% 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 Somerset County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Somerset County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $30,009 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Somerset County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,103 a month ($25,236 a year), and at $2,623 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Short Order, a one-bedroom absorbs 84.1% of take-home pay and 71.4% 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 9.7% of gross pay for Cooks, Short Order in Somerset County, NJ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Jersey residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,044 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $518, for $2,562 in total. Gasoline in New Jersey averages $3.21 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,484.
What is left over
The basics cost $32,717 a year in Somerset County, NJ, but take-home pay for Cooks, Short Order is $30,009. That is a shortfall of $2,708 a year, or $226 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 188 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $14.43, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Somerset County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Somerset County, NJ: 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 Somerset County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Somerset County, NJ
Homeowners in Somerset County, NJ pay a median of $10,001 a year in real estate taxes, 4% above the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 221% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $552,100, the median tax bill is 1.81% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Short Order median of $35,360, a tax bill of that size would equal 28.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Somerset County, NJ
Renters in Somerset County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $2,033 a month in the Census survey, 18% above the New Jersey median of $1,720. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,103 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 $552,100, 22% above the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $140,374, 36% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.0% of that income.
Commuting in Somerset County, NJ
Workers in Somerset County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.4 minutes each way, 3% above the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 22.7% of workers in Somerset County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Short Order afford to live in Somerset County, NJ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $35,360 that ceiling is $884 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,103 is $1,219 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $40.44 an hour; the median for Cooks, Short Order is $17.00, which is 58% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.43 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 33.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,623 a month means $1,312 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,498 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,790, 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 $35,360 median, lower housing costs than the $2,103 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Short Order pay in Somerset County, NJ
How much do Cooks, Short Order make per hour in Somerset County, NJ?
The median is $17.00 per hour, based on $35,360 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.88 at the 10th percentile to $24.00 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Short Order take home after taxes in Somerset County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $35,360 becomes $30,009 a year. That is $2,501 a month, $1,154 every two weeks or $577 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Short Order pay in Somerset County, NJ?
Total taxes are $5,351 a year, an effective rate of 15.1%: $2,115 federal income tax, $2,705 FICA and $531 New Jersey income tax.
Do Cooks, Short Order earn more in Somerset County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
Yes. The local median of $35,360 is +1.4% versus the New Jersey average of $34,856, a difference of $504 a year.
Can Cooks, Short Order afford a one-bedroom apartment in Somerset County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $2,103 a month against take-home pay of $2,501, which is 84.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $884 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Short Order in Somerset County, NJ?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $32,717 a year, which is $2,708 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $226.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Somerset County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$40.44 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $25,236 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Short Order is $17.00.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ 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 New Jersey 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.