Cooks, Fast Food Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $23K, rent takes 85.5% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,364/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $500/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new cooks, fast foods typically earn — is $21K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,289/month.

Local pay runs 27% below the national median — $23K here vs. $31K nationally.

Eastern North Carolina nonmetropolitan area pays $23K median vs. the U.S. average of $31K — that’s -27%.

The median is $22,680 a year, that works out to about $11 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $21,490, and experienced cooks, fast foods can clear $36,840. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $1,596/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,364/month, which eats 85.5% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Eastern North Carolina nonmetropolitan area has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median cooks, fast food salary is worth about $22,680 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.