Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $23K, rent takes 72.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,180/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 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers typically earn — is $16K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $937/month.

Local pay runs 32% below the national median — $23K here vs. $34K nationally.

West Kentucky nonmetropolitan area pays $23K median vs. the U.S. average of $34K — that’s -32%.

The median is $23,120 a year, that works out to about $11 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $15,620, and experienced dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers can clear $32,710. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $1,635/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,180/month, which eats 72.2% 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.

West Kentucky 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 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers salary is worth about $23,120 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.