What Cooks, Fast Food earn in San Benito County, CA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $47,220: the median annual pay for Cooks, Fast Food in San Benito County, CA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $22.70 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $46,530, which is 1.5% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 4,790 people working in this occupation across the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. San Benito County, CA has roughly 67,290 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cooks, Fast Food in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $38,210 a year ($18.37 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $50,850 or more ($24.45 an hour). That is a gap of $12,640 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $42,320 at the 25th percentile and $49,900 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
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $22.70 an hour or $47,220 a year at the median for San Benito County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $3,935 a month, $1,816 every two weeks and $908 each week. After taxes the same job pays $18.82 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cooks, Fast Food
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cooks, Fast Food this way: "Prepare and cook food in a fast food restaurant with a limited menu. Duties of these cooks are limited to preparation of a few basic items and normally involve operating large-volume single-purpose cooking equipment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain sanitation, health, and safety standards in work areas"; "Clean food preparation areas, cooking surfaces, and utensils"; "Operate large-volume cooking equipment, such as grills, deep-fat fryers, or griddles"; "Verify that prepared food meets requirements for quality and quantity".
Job outlook for Cooks, Fast Food
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 640,500 jobs in 2025 to 644,100 in 2035, a change of +0.6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 86,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.5% 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 $30,890 for this occupation; the San Benito County, CA median of $47,220 is 52.9% above it.
How pay in San Benito County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
A worker in this occupation in San Benito County, CA earns $6,128 more than the California average of $41,092, a premium of 14.9%. Over a year that premium is worth $6,128 before tax and roughly $5,080 after tax. Within California, San Benito County, CA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Fast Food is $31,678 across the contiguous United States. At $47,220, San Benito County, CA pays $15,542 more, which is 49.1% 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 San Benito County, CA
Among the 507 occupations with published wages in San Benito County, CA, Cooks, Fast Food ranks number 454 by median pay, ahead of about 10% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Lawyers at $301,320 a year, which is $254,100 more than the median for Cooks, Fast Food.
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, Fast Food earning the San Benito County, CA median of $47,220, they add up to $8,080. The result is $39,140 of take-home pay a year ($3,262 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $31,470. 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 $3,538, 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 $2,928 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $685. FICA totals $3,612, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $929 a year, or 2.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 26% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $77 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 San Benito County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for San Benito County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $91,221 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.2% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.9%, 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 San Benito County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in San Benito County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $39,140 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For San Benito County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,296 a month ($27,552 a year), and at $3,004 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Fast Food, a one-bedroom absorbs 70.4% of take-home pay and 58.4% 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 7.3% of gross pay for Cooks, Fast Food in San Benito 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
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $37,163 a year in San Benito County, CA. Subtract that from $39,140 of take-home pay and $1,977 remains, which is $165 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 4.2% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for San Benito County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in San Benito 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 San Benito County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in San Benito County, CA
Homeowners in San Benito County, CA pay a median of $6,441 a year in real estate taxes, 26% above the California median of $5,124 and 107% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $793,400, the median tax bill is 0.81% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Fast Food median of $47,220, a tax bill of that size would equal 13.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in San Benito County, CA
Renters in San Benito County, CA pay a median gross rent of $1,992 a month in the Census survey, 2% 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 $2,296 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 $793,400, 8% above the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $114,394, 15% above the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 24.1% of that income.
Commuting in San Benito County, CA
Workers in San Benito County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 36.6 minutes each way, 28% above the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 6.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.8% of workers in San Benito County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Fast Food afford to live in San Benito 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 $47,220 that ceiling is $1,181 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,296 is $1,116 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $44.15 an hour; the median for Cooks, Fast Food is $22.70, which is 49% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $18.82 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 28.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $3,004 a month means $1,502 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,528 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $11,505.
How fast you can save
At $165 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 61 months (5.1 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 122 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Fast Food pay in San Benito County, CA
How much do Cooks, Fast Food make per hour in San Benito County, CA?
The median is $22.70 per hour, based on $47,220 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.37 at the 10th percentile to $24.45 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Fast Food take home after taxes in San Benito County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $47,220 becomes $39,140 a year. That is $3,262 a month, $1,505 every two weeks or $753 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Fast Food pay in San Benito County, CA?
Total taxes are $8,080 a year, an effective rate of 17.1%: $3,538 federal income tax, $3,612 FICA and $929 California income tax.
Do Cooks, Fast Food earn more in San Benito County, CA than elsewhere in California?
Yes. The local median of $47,220 is +14.9% versus the California average of $41,092, a difference of $6,128 a year.
Can Cooks, Fast Food afford a one-bedroom apartment in San Benito County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,296 a month against take-home pay of $3,262, which is 70.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,181 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Fast Food in San Benito County, CA?
About $165 a month ($1,977 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $37,163 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in San Benito County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$44.15 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $27,552 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Fast Food is $22.70.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 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.