What First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers earn in Clay County, MO
The median pay for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO is $39,210 per year, which works out to $18.85 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, the labor market that Clay County, MO 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 $45,510, which is 16.1% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,650 people working in this occupation across the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Clay County, MO has roughly 258,122 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,460 a year ($15.13 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $63,440 or more ($30.50 an hour). That is a gap of $31,980 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,530 at the 25th percentile and $51,510 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 First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO is $18.85. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $39,210, and the same salary is $3,268 a month before taxes or about $1,508 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.71 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers this way: "Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in preparing and serving food."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Resolve customer complaints regarding food service"; "Train workers in food preparation, and in service, sanitation, and safety procedures"; "Inspect supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure efficient service and conformance to standards"; "Control inventories of food, equipment, smallware, and liquor, and report shortages to designated personnel".
Job outlook for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,236,400 jobs in 2025 to 1,303,500 in 2035, a change of +5.4%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 171,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.9% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $44,080 for this occupation; the Clay County, MO median of $39,210 is 11.0% below it.
How pay in Clay County, MO compares
Compared with the Missouri average
Clay County, MO pays above the state benchmark. The Missouri employment-weighted average for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers is $37,848; the local median of $39,210 beats it by $1,363, or 3.6%. Within Missouri, Clay County, MO already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers is $42,179 across the contiguous United States. At $39,210, Clay County, MO pays $2,969 less, which is 7.0% 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 Clay County, MO
Among the 550 occupations with published wages in Clay County, MO, First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers ranks number 473 by median pay, ahead of about 14% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $124,990 a year, which is $85,780 more than the median for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $39,210 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 $6,538 a year, which leaves $32,672, or $2,723 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $23,460. 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 $2,577, an effective 6.6% 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 $2,431 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $569. FICA totals $3,000, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Missouri
Missouri income tax on this salary is $962 a year, or 2.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 37% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $80 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 Clay County, MO
IRS Statistics of Income data for Clay County, MO show an average adjusted gross income of $86,709 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 5.3%, compared with the 6.6% 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 Clay County, MO
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Clay County, MO: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,672 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Clay County, MO is $1,366 a month, or $16,392 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,546 a month. For First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 50.2% of take-home pay and 41.8% 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 8.8% of gross pay for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Missouri residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,364 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $672, for $2,036 in total. Gasoline in Missouri averages $3.03 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,403.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $23,267 a year, 71% of take-home pay. That leaves $9,405 a year, or $784 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 24.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Clay County, MO
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Clay County, MO: 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 Clay County, MO, set beside the Missouri and national medians.
Property taxes in Clay County, MO
Homeowners in Clay County, MO pay a median of $2,941 a year in real estate taxes, 51% above the Missouri median of $1,948 and 6% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $275,600, the median tax bill is 1.07% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers median of $39,210, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Clay County, MO
Renters in Clay County, MO pay a median gross rent of $1,243 a month in the Census survey, 20% above the Missouri median of $1,033. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,366 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 $275,600, 20% above the Missouri median of $230,300. Median household income is $88,468, 25% above the Missouri median of $70,702, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.5% of that income.
Commuting in Clay County, MO
Workers in Clay County, MO who travel to a workplace spend an average of 22.8 minutes each way, 3% below the Missouri average of 23.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.9% of workers in Clay County, MO work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers afford to live in Clay County, MO?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $39,210 that ceiling is $980 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,366 is $386 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $26.27 an hour; the median for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers is $18.85, which is 28% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.71 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,546 a month means $773 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,116 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,521.
How fast you can save
At $784 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 13 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 26 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers pay in Clay County, MO
What is the hourly wage for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO?
The median is $18.85 per hour, based on $39,210 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.13 at the 10th percentile to $30.50 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $39,210 becomes $32,672 a year. That is $2,723 a month, $1,257 every two weeks or $628 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO?
Total taxes are $6,538 a year, an effective rate of 16.7%: $2,577 federal income tax, $3,000 FICA and $962 Missouri income tax.
Is pay for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO above the Missouri average?
Yes. The local median of $39,210 is +3.6% versus the Missouri average of $37,848, a difference of $1,363 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers salary in Clay County, MO?
A one-bedroom costs $1,366 a month against take-home pay of $2,723, which is 50.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $980 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Clay County, MO?
About $784 a month ($9,405 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $23,267 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Clay County, MO at the 30% guideline?
$26.27 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $16,392 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers is $18.85.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Kansas City, MO-KS 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 Missouri 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.