What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Manatee County, FL
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $30,000: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Manatee County, FL. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $14.42 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $32,010, which is 6.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,330 people working in this occupation across the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Manatee County, FL has roughly 429,792 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 North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $28,540 a year ($13.72 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $37,660 or more ($18.11 an hour). That is a gap of $9,120 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $28,990 at the 25th percentile and $34,410 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: $14.42 an hour or $30,000 a year at the median for Manatee County, FL. Before any deductions, that is $2,500 a month, $1,154 every two weeks and $577 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.61 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 Manatee County, FL median of $30,000 is 3.8% below it.
How pay in Manatee County, FL compares
Compared with the Florida average
A worker in this occupation in Manatee County, FL earns $938 more than the Florida average of $29,062, a premium of 3.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $938 before tax and roughly $820 after tax. Within Florida, Manatee County, FL already has the highest median we track for this job.
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 $30,000, Manatee County, FL pays $1,431 less, which is 4.5% below 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 Manatee County, FL
Among the 410 occupations with published wages in Manatee County, FL, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 406 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $94,900 a year, which is $64,900 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
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 Fast Food and Counter Workers earning the Manatee County, FL median of $30,000, they add up to $3,767. The result is $26,234 of take-home pay a year ($2,186 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $13 goes to taxes and $87 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 12.6%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $14,250. 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 $1,472, an effective 4.9% 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 $1,860 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $435. FICA totals $2,295, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Florida
Florida does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Manatee County, FL 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 $1,500 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $125 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Manatee County, FL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Manatee County, FL show an average adjusted gross income of $107,971 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.6% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.1%, compared with the 4.9% 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 Manatee County, FL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Manatee County, FL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $26,234 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Manatee County, FL, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,876 a month ($22,512 a year), and at $2,188 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 85.8% of take-home pay and 75.0% 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 11.5% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Manatee County, FL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Florida residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,494 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $1,005, for $2,498 in total. Gasoline in Florida averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,427.
What is left over
The basics cost $29,874 a year in Manatee County, FL, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $26,234. That is a shortfall of $3,640 a year, or $303 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 289 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $12.61, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Manatee County, FL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Manatee County, FL: 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 Manatee County, FL, set beside the Florida and national medians.
Property taxes in Manatee County, FL
Homeowners in Manatee County, FL pay a median of $3,047 a year in real estate taxes, 12% above the Florida median of $2,730 and 2% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $391,400, the median tax bill is 0.78% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $30,000, a tax bill of that size would equal 10.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Manatee County, FL
Renters in Manatee County, FL pay a median gross rent of $1,671 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Florida median of $1,669. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,876 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 $391,400, 9% above the Florida median of $359,000. Median household income is $78,457, 5% above the Florida median of $74,568, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 28.7% of that income.
Commuting in Manatee County, FL
Workers in Manatee County, FL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 27.3 minutes each way, 3% below the Florida average of 28.0. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.8% of workers in Manatee County, FL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Manatee County, FL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $30,000 that ceiling is $750 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,876 is $1,126 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $36.08 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $14.42, which is 60% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.61 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 34.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,188 a month means $1,094 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,384 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $5,744, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $30,000 median, lower housing costs than the $1,876 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Manatee County, FL
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Manatee County, FL?
The median is $14.42 per hour, based on $30,000 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.72 at the 10th percentile to $18.11 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Manatee County, FL?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $30,000 becomes $26,234 a year. That is $2,186 a month, $1,009 every two weeks or $504 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Manatee County, FL?
Total taxes are $3,767 a year, an effective rate of 12.6%: $1,472 federal income tax, $2,295 FICA and no Florida income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Manatee County, FL than elsewhere in Florida?
Yes. The local median of $30,000 is +3.2% versus the Florida average of $29,062, a difference of $938 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Manatee County, FL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,876 a month against take-home pay of $2,186, which is 85.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $750 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Manatee County, FL?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $29,874 a year, which is $3,640 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $303.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Manatee County, FL at the 30% guideline?
$36.08 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $22,512 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $14.42.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL 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 Florida 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.