What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Kern County, CA
The median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA is $39,470 per year, which works out to $18.98 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Bakersfield-Delano, CA metropolitan area, the labor market that Kern County, CA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $40,290, which is 2.1% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 9,180 people working in this occupation across the Bakersfield-Delano, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Kern County, CA has roughly 915,075 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in the Bakersfield-Delano, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $35,190 a year ($16.92 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $45,660 or more ($21.95 an hour). That is a gap of $10,470 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,260 at the 25th percentile and $43,390 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA is $18.98. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $39,470, and the same salary is $3,289 a month before taxes or about $1,518 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.99 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Fast Food and Counter Workers this way: "Perform duties such as taking orders and serving food and beverages. Serve customers at counter or from a steam table. May take payment. May prepare food and beverages."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints"; "Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary"; "Scrub and polish counters, steam tables, and other equipment, and clean glasses, dishes, and fountain equipment"; "Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary".
Job outlook for Fast Food and Counter Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,855,900 jobs in 2025 to 4,079,100 in 2035, a change of +5.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 827,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 21.5% 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 $31,200 for this occupation; the Kern County, CA median of $39,470 is 26.5% above it.
How pay in Kern County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
The local median of $39,470 sits below the California employment-weighted average of $42,322. The shortfall is $2,852 a year, or 6.7%, so Kern County, CA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within California, the highest median we track for this job is $44,570 in Santa Clara County, CA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $31,431 across the contiguous United States. At $39,470, Kern County, CA pays $8,039 more, which is 25.6% 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 Kern County, CA
Among the 419 occupations with published wages in Kern County, CA, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 365 by median pay, ahead of about 13% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand at $46,890 a year, which is $7,420 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $39,470 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,218 a year, which leaves $33,252, or $2,771 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $23,720. 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 $2,608, an effective 6.6% 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 $2,447 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $572. FICA totals $3,019, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $591 a year, or 1.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 23% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $49 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 Kern County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Kern County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $65,696 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.2%, compared with the 6.6% 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 Kern County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Kern County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,252 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Kern County, CA is $1,273 a month, or $15,276 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,656 a month. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 45.9% of take-home pay and 38.7% 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 8.7% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $24,887 a year, 75% of take-home pay. That leaves $8,365 a year, or $697 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 21.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Kern County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Kern County, CA: 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 Kern County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Kern County, CA
Homeowners in Kern County, CA pay a median of $2,984 a year in real estate taxes, 42% below the California median of $5,124 and 4% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $338,300, the median tax bill is 0.88% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $39,470, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Kern County, CA
Renters in Kern County, CA pay a median gross rent of $1,300 a month in the Census survey, 36% below the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,273 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 $338,300, 54% below the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $70,210, 29% below the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 21.8% of that income.
Commuting in Kern County, CA
Workers in Kern County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.4 minutes each way, 15% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 7.5% of workers in Kern County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Kern County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $39,470 that ceiling is $987 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,273 is $286 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.48 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $18.98, which is 22% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.99 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 18.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,656 a month means $828 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,340 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,705.
How fast you can save
At $697 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 15 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 30 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Kern County, CA
What is the hourly wage for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA?
The median is $18.98 per hour, based on $39,470 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.92 at the 10th percentile to $21.95 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $39,470 becomes $33,252 a year. That is $2,771 a month, $1,279 every two weeks or $639 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA?
Total taxes are $6,218 a year, an effective rate of 15.8%: $2,608 federal income tax, $3,019 FICA and $591 California income tax.
Is pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA above the California average?
No. The local median of $39,470 is -6.7% versus the California average of $42,322, a difference of $2,852 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Kern County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,273 a month against take-home pay of $2,771, which is 45.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $987 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kern County, CA?
About $697 a month ($8,365 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,887 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Kern County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$24.48 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $15,276 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $18.98.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Bakersfield-Delano, CA 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 California 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.