What Food Preparation Workers earn in St. Charles Parish, LA
The median pay for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA is $26,200 per year, which works out to $12.60 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area, the labor market that St. Charles Parish, LA 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 $27,140, which is 3.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,250 people working in this occupation across the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. St. Charles Parish, LA has roughly 51,396 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Food Preparation Workers in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $18,490 a year ($8.89 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,210 or more ($17.41 an hour). That is a gap of $17,720 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $22,120 at the 25th percentile and $29,990 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 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 Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA is $12.60. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $26,200, and the same salary is $2,183 a month before taxes or about $1,008 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $10.93 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Food Preparation Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Food Preparation Workers this way: "Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage"; "Portion and wrap food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons"; "Place food trays over food warmers for immediate service, or store them in refrigerated storage cabinets"; "Weigh or measure ingredients".
Job outlook for Food Preparation Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 908,500 jobs in 2025 to 881,300 in 2035, a change of -3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 135,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 14.9% 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 $35,320 for this occupation; the St. Charles Parish, LA median of $26,200 is 25.8% below it.
How pay in St. Charles Parish, LA compares
Compared with the Louisiana average
St. Charles Parish, LA pays above the state benchmark. The Louisiana employment-weighted average for Food Preparation Workers is $23,956; the local median of $26,200 beats it by $2,244, or 9.4%. Within Louisiana, St. Charles Parish, LA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Food Preparation Workers is $34,184 across the contiguous United States. At $26,200, St. Charles Parish, LA pays $7,984 less, which is 23.4% 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 St. Charles Parish, LA
Among the 432 occupations with published wages in St. Charles Parish, LA, Food Preparation Workers ranks number 421 by median pay, ahead of about 3% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $105,110 a year, which is $78,910 more than the median for Food Preparation Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $26,200 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 $3,460 a year, which leaves $22,740, or $1,895 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $13 goes to taxes and $87 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 13.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $10,450. 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 10% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $1,045, an effective 4.0% of gross pay, well below the 10% 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 $1,624 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $380. FICA totals $2,004, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Louisiana
Louisiana income tax on this salary is $411 a year, or 1.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 39% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $34 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 St. Charles Parish, LA
IRS Statistics of Income data for St. Charles Parish, LA show an average adjusted gross income of $79,578 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.5% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.4%, compared with the 4.0% 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 St. Charles Parish, LA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in St. Charles Parish, LA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $22,740 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in St. Charles Parish, LA is $1,229 a month, or $14,748 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,480 a month. For Food Preparation Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 64.9% of take-home pay and 56.3% 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 13.1% of gross pay for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Louisiana residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,239 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $654, for $1,893 in total. Gasoline in Louisiana averages $2.91 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,345.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $21,422 a year, 94% of take-home pay. That leaves $1,318 a year, or $110 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 5.0% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for St. Charles Parish, LA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in St. Charles Parish, LA: 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 St. Charles Parish, LA, set beside the Louisiana and national medians.
Property taxes in St. Charles Parish, LA
Homeowners in St. Charles Parish, LA pay a median of $1,562 a year in real estate taxes, 32% above the Louisiana median of $1,180 and 50% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $263,700, the median tax bill is 0.59% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Food Preparation Workers median of $26,200, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in St. Charles Parish, LA
Renters in St. Charles Parish, LA pay a median gross rent of $1,210 a month in the Census survey, 14% above the Louisiana median of $1,064. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,229 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 $263,700, 22% above the Louisiana median of $216,500. Median household income is $80,897, 33% above the Louisiana median of $60,756, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.2% of that income.
Commuting in St. Charles Parish, LA
Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.0 minutes each way, 1% above the Louisiana average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 7.7% of workers in St. Charles Parish, LA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Food Preparation Workers afford to live in St. Charles Parish, LA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $26,200 that ceiling is $655 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,229 is $574 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.63 an hour; the median for Food Preparation Workers is $12.60, which is 47% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $10.93 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 25.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,480 a month means $740 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,868 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $7,186.
How fast you can save
At $110 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 92 months (7.7 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 184 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Food Preparation Workers pay in St. Charles Parish, LA
What is the hourly wage for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA?
The median is $12.60 per hour, based on $26,200 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $8.89 at the 10th percentile to $17.41 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $26,200 becomes $22,740 a year. That is $1,895 a month, $875 every two weeks or $437 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA?
Total taxes are $3,460 a year, an effective rate of 13.2%: $1,045 federal income tax, $2,004 FICA and $411 Louisiana income tax.
Is pay for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA above the Louisiana average?
Yes. The local median of $26,200 is +9.4% versus the Louisiana average of $23,956, a difference of $2,244 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Food Preparation Workers salary in St. Charles Parish, LA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,229 a month against take-home pay of $1,895, which is 64.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $655 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Food Preparation Workers in St. Charles Parish, LA?
About $110 a month ($1,318 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,422 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in St. Charles Parish, LA at the 30% guideline?
$23.63 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,748 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Food Preparation Workers is $12.60.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New Orleans-Metairie, LA 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 Louisiana 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.