What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Bristol County, MA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $33,700: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Bristol County, MA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $16.20 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $34,070, which is 1.1% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 21,530 people working in this occupation across the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Bristol County, MA has roughly 582,270 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 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,700 or more ($17.64 an hour). That is a gap of $5,500 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $31,200 at the 25th percentile and $35,200 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.2 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: $16.20 an hour or $33,700 a year at the median for Bristol County, MA. Before any deductions, that is $2,808 a month, $1,296 every two weeks and $648 each week. After taxes the same job pays $13.34 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Bristol County, MA compares
Compared with the Massachusetts average
Pay in Bristol County, MA runs $1,726 below the Massachusetts average of $35,426, a gap of 4.9%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Massachusetts would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Massachusetts, the highest median we track for this job is $36,290 in Middlesex County, MA.
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 $33,700, Bristol County, MA pays $2,269 more, which is 7.2% 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 Bristol County, MA
Among the 512 occupations with published wages in Bristol County, MA, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 508 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $110,360 a year, which is $76,660 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 Bristol County, MA median of $33,700, they add up to $5,959. The result is $27,741 of take-home pay a year ($2,312 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $17,950. 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 $1,916, an effective 5.7% 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 $2,089 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $489. FICA totals $2,578, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Massachusetts
Massachusetts income tax on this salary is $1,465 a year, or 4.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 76% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $122 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 Bristol County, MA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Bristol County, MA show an average adjusted gross income of $83,920 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.3%, compared with the 5.7% 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 Bristol County, MA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Bristol County, MA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $27,741 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Bristol County, MA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,530 a month ($18,360 a year), and at $1,928 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 66.2% of take-home pay and 54.5% 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 10.2% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Bristol County, MA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Massachusetts residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,101 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $867, for $3,968 in total. Gasoline in Massachusetts averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,542.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $27,305 a year in Bristol County, MA. Subtract that from $27,741 of take-home pay and $436 remains, which is $36 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 1.3% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Bristol County, MA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $33,700 that ceiling is $843 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,530 is $688 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.42 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $16.20, which is 45% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.34 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,928 a month means $964 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,792 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $7,228.
How fast you can save
At $36 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 276 months (23.0 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 552 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Bristol County, MA
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Bristol County, MA?
The median is $16.20 per hour, based on $33,700 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.00 at the 10th percentile to $17.64 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Bristol County, MA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $33,700 becomes $27,741 a year. That is $2,312 a month, $1,067 every two weeks or $533 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Bristol County, MA?
Total taxes are $5,959 a year, an effective rate of 17.7%: $1,916 federal income tax, $2,578 FICA and $1,465 Massachusetts income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Bristol County, MA than elsewhere in Massachusetts?
No. The local median of $33,700 is -4.9% versus the Massachusetts average of $35,426, a difference of $1,726 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Bristol County, MA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,530 a month against take-home pay of $2,312, which is 66.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $843 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Bristol County, MA?
About $36 a month ($436 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,305 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Bristol County, MA at the 30% guideline?
$29.42 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,360 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $16.20.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA 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 Massachusetts 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.