What Cooks, Restaurant earn in St. James Parish, LA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $30,520: the median annual pay for Cooks, Restaurant in St. James Parish, LA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $14.67 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $32,990, which is 8.1% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 4,720 people working in this occupation across the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. St. James Parish, LA has roughly 19,528 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cooks, Restaurant in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $23,000 a year ($11.06 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $43,860 or more ($21.09 an hour). That is a gap of $20,860 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $28,190 at the 25th percentile and $37,740 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 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: $14.67 an hour or $30,520 a year at the median for St. James Parish, LA. Before any deductions, that is $2,543 a month, $1,174 every two weeks and $587 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.55 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cooks, Restaurant
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cooks, Restaurant this way: "Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Turn or stir foods to ensure even cooking"; "Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience"; "Observe and test foods to determine if they have been cooked sufficiently, using methods such as tasting, smelling, or piercing them with utensils"; "Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment".
Job outlook for Cooks, Restaurant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,417,500 jobs in 2025 to 1,588,800 in 2035, a change of +12.1%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 218,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 15.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $37,390 for this occupation; the St. James Parish, LA median of $30,520 is 18.4% below it.
How pay in St. James Parish, LA compares
Compared with the Louisiana average
A worker in this occupation in St. James Parish, LA earns $1,527 more than the Louisiana average of $28,993, a premium of 5.3%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,527 before tax and roughly $1,307 after tax. Within Louisiana, St. James Parish, LA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Restaurant is $38,193 across the contiguous United States. At $30,520, St. James Parish, LA pays $7,673 less, which is 20.1% 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. James Parish, LA
Among the 432 occupations with published wages in St. James Parish, LA, Cooks, Restaurant ranks number 396 by median pay, ahead of about 8% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $105,110 a year, which is $74,590 more than the median for Cooks, Restaurant.
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, Restaurant earning the St. James Parish, LA median of $30,520, they add up to $4,409. The result is $26,111 of take-home pay a year ($2,176 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $14,770. 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 $1,534, an effective 5.0% 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 $1,892 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $443. FICA totals $2,335, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Louisiana
Louisiana income tax on this salary is $541 a year, or 1.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 35% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $45 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. James Parish, LA
IRS Statistics of Income data for St. James Parish, LA show an average adjusted gross income of $71,550 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.6% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 3.6%, compared with the 5.0% 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. James Parish, LA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in St. James Parish, LA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $26,111 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For St. James Parish, LA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $891 a month ($10,692 a year), and at $1,165 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Restaurant, a one-bedroom absorbs 41.0% of take-home pay and 35.0% 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 11.3% of gross pay for Cooks, Restaurant in St. James 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
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $17,366 a year in St. James Parish, LA. Subtract that from $26,111 of take-home pay and $8,745 remains, which is $729 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 28.7% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for St. James Parish, LA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in St. James 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. James Parish, LA, set beside the Louisiana and national medians.
Property taxes in St. James Parish, LA
Homeowners in St. James Parish, LA pay a median of $1,113 a year in real estate taxes, 6% below the Louisiana median of $1,180 and 64% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $211,800, the median tax bill is 0.53% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Restaurant median of $30,520, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in St. James Parish, LA
Renters in St. James Parish, LA pay a median gross rent of $903 a month in the Census survey, 15% below the Louisiana median of $1,064. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $891 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 $211,800, 2% below the Louisiana median of $216,500. Median household income is $65,531, 8% above the Louisiana median of $60,756, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.3% of that income.
Commuting in St. James Parish, LA
Workers in St. James Parish, LA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.3 minutes each way, 10% above the Louisiana average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 5.4% of workers in St. James Parish, LA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford to live in St. James 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 $30,520 that ceiling is $763 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $891 is $128 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $17.13 an hour; the median for Cooks, Restaurant is $14.67, which is 14% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.55 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 16.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,165 a month means $583 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $3,702 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $12,447.
How fast you can save
At $729 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 14 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 28 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Restaurant pay in St. James Parish, LA
How much do Cooks, Restaurant make per hour in St. James Parish, LA?
The median is $14.67 per hour, based on $30,520 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.06 at the 10th percentile to $21.09 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Restaurant take home after taxes in St. James Parish, LA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $30,520 becomes $26,111 a year. That is $2,176 a month, $1,004 every two weeks or $502 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Restaurant pay in St. James Parish, LA?
Total taxes are $4,409 a year, an effective rate of 14.4%: $1,534 federal income tax, $2,335 FICA and $541 Louisiana income tax.
Do Cooks, Restaurant earn more in St. James Parish, LA than elsewhere in Louisiana?
Yes. The local median of $30,520 is +5.3% versus the Louisiana average of $28,993, a difference of $1,527 a year.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford a one-bedroom apartment in St. James Parish, LA?
A one-bedroom costs $891 a month against take-home pay of $2,176, which is 40.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $763 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Restaurant in St. James Parish, LA?
About $729 a month ($8,745 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $17,366 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in St. James Parish, LA at the 30% guideline?
$17.13 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $10,692 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Restaurant is $14.67.
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.