What Cooks, Restaurant earn in Pierce County, WA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $47,730: the median annual pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Pierce County, WA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $22.95 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $49,000, which is 2.7% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 20,850 people working in this occupation across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Pierce County, WA has roughly 930,319 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cooks, Restaurant in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $38,360 a year ($18.44 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $58,660 or more ($28.20 an hour). That is a gap of $20,300 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $45,730 at the 25th percentile and $53,060 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: $22.95 an hour or $47,730 a year at the median for Pierce County, WA. Before any deductions, that is $3,978 a month, $1,836 every two weeks and $918 each week. After taxes the same job pays $19.46 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cooks, Restaurant
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cooks, Restaurant this way: "Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Turn or stir foods to ensure even cooking"; "Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience"; "Observe and test foods to determine if they have been cooked sufficiently, using methods such as tasting, smelling, or piercing them with utensils"; "Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment".
Job outlook for Cooks, Restaurant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,417,500 jobs in 2025 to 1,588,800 in 2035, a change of +12.1%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 218,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 15.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $37,390 for this occupation; the Pierce County, WA median of $47,730 is 27.7% above it.
How pay in Pierce County, WA compares
Compared with the Washington average
A worker in this occupation in Pierce County, WA earns $1,473 more than the Washington average of $46,257, a premium of 3.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,473 before tax and roughly $1,249 after tax. Within Washington, Pierce County, WA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Restaurant is $38,193 across the contiguous United States. At $47,730, Pierce County, WA pays $9,537 more, which is 25.0% 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 Pierce County, WA
Among the 612 occupations with published wages in Pierce County, WA, Cooks, Restaurant ranks number 539 by median pay, ahead of about 12% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $214,680 a year, which is $166,950 more than the median for Cooks, Restaurant.
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, Restaurant earning the Pierce County, WA median of $47,730, they add up to $7,250. The result is $40,480 of take-home pay a year ($3,373 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 15.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $31,980. 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 $3,599, an effective 7.5% 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 $2,959 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $692. FICA totals $3,651, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Washington
Washington does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Cooks, Restaurant in Pierce County, WA is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $2,387 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $199 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Pierce County, WA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Pierce County, WA show an average adjusted gross income of $94,511 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 5.2%, compared with the 7.5% 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 Pierce County, WA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Pierce County, WA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $40,480 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Pierce County, WA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,682 a month ($20,184 a year), and at $2,064 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Restaurant, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.9% of take-home pay and 42.3% 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 7.2% of gross pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Pierce County, WA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Washington residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,257 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $475, for $1,732 in total. Gasoline in Washington averages $4.07 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,883.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $27,234 a year in Pierce County, WA. Subtract that from $40,480 of take-home pay and $13,245 remains, which is $1,104 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 27.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Pierce County, WA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Pierce County, WA: 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 Pierce County, WA, set beside the Washington and national medians.
Property taxes in Pierce County, WA
Homeowners in Pierce County, WA pay a median of $4,770 a year in real estate taxes, 5% above the Washington median of $4,556 and 53% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $526,600, the median tax bill is 0.91% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Restaurant median of $47,730, a tax bill of that size would equal 10.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Pierce County, WA
Renters in Pierce County, WA pay a median gross rent of $1,806 a month in the Census survey, 3% above the Washington median of $1,760. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,682 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 $526,600, 7% below the Washington median of $564,600. Median household income is $99,564, 1% above the Washington median of $98,141, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.3% of that income.
Commuting in Pierce County, WA
Workers in Pierce County, WA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.3 minutes each way, 18% above the Washington average of 26.6. 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. 13.9% of workers in Pierce County, WA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford to live in Pierce County, WA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $47,730 that ceiling is $1,193 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,682 is $489 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $32.35 an hour; the median for Cooks, Restaurant is $22.95, which is 29% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.46 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,064 a month means $1,032 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,800 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $21,045.
How fast you can save
At $1,104 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 10 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 20 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Restaurant pay in Pierce County, WA
How much do Cooks, Restaurant make per hour in Pierce County, WA?
The median is $22.95 per hour, based on $47,730 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.44 at the 10th percentile to $28.20 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Restaurant take home after taxes in Pierce County, WA?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $47,730 becomes $40,480 a year. That is $3,373 a month, $1,557 every two weeks or $778 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Restaurant pay in Pierce County, WA?
Total taxes are $7,250 a year, an effective rate of 15.2%: $3,599 federal income tax, $3,651 FICA and no Washington income tax.
Do Cooks, Restaurant earn more in Pierce County, WA than elsewhere in Washington?
Yes. The local median of $47,730 is +3.2% versus the Washington average of $46,257, a difference of $1,473 a year.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford a one-bedroom apartment in Pierce County, WA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,682 a month against take-home pay of $3,373, which is 49.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,193 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Restaurant in Pierce County, WA?
About $1,104 a month ($13,245 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,234 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Pierce County, WA at the 30% guideline?
$32.35 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $20,184 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Restaurant is $22.95.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 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 Washington 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.