What Food Preparation Workers earn in Wake County, NC
According to the latest federal wage data for the Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area, the median pay for Food Preparation Workers in Wake County, NC is $29,470 a year, or $14.17 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $25,097 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Wake County, NC.
The mean wage is $31,160, which is 5.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 5,290 people working in this occupation across the Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Wake County, NC has roughly 1,178,653 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 Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,340 a year ($10.74 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $39,380 or more ($18.93 an hour). That is a gap of $17,040 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $24,520 at the 25th percentile and $36,410 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 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: $14.17 an hour or $29,470 a year at the median for Wake County, NC. Before any deductions, that is $2,456 a month, $1,133 every two weeks and $567 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.07 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 Wake County, NC median of $29,470 is 16.6% below it.
How pay in Wake County, NC compares
Compared with the North Carolina average
Pay in Wake County, NC runs $1,751 below the North Carolina average of $31,221, a gap of 5.6%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of North Carolina would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within North Carolina, the highest median we track for this job is $34,180 in Mecklenburg County, NC.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Food Preparation Workers is $34,184 across the contiguous United States. At $29,470, Wake County, NC pays $4,714 less, which is 13.8% 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 Wake County, NC
Among the 498 occupations with published wages in Wake County, NC, Food Preparation Workers ranks number 489 by median pay, ahead of about 2% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,960 a year, which is $144,490 more than the median for Food Preparation 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 Food Preparation Workers earning the Wake County, NC median of $29,470, they add up to $4,373. The result is $25,097 of take-home pay a year ($2,091 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $13,720. 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 $1,408, an effective 4.8% 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 $1,827 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $427. FICA totals $2,254, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in North Carolina
North Carolina income tax on this salary is $711 a year, or 2.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 50% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $59 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 Wake County, NC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Wake County, NC show an average adjusted gross income of $117,912 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.5%, compared with the 4.8% 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 Wake County, NC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Wake County, NC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $25,097 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Wake County, NC, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,552 a month ($18,624 a year), and at $1,689 for two bedrooms. For Food Preparation Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 74.2% of take-home pay and 63.2% 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 11.7% of gross pay for Food Preparation Workers in Wake County, NC. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using North Carolina residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,493 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $645, for $2,138 in total. Gasoline in North Carolina averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,472.
What is left over
The basics cost $25,670 a year in Wake County, NC, but take-home pay for Food Preparation Workers is $25,097. That is a shortfall of $572 a year, or $48 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 47 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $12.07, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Wake County, NC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Wake County, NC: 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 Wake County, NC, set beside the North Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Wake County, NC
Homeowners in Wake County, NC pay a median of $3,260 a year in real estate taxes, 72% above the North Carolina median of $1,896 and 5% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $461,300, the median tax bill is 0.71% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Food Preparation Workers median of $29,470, a tax bill of that size would equal 11.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Wake County, NC
Renters in Wake County, NC pay a median gross rent of $1,623 a month in the Census survey, 32% above the North Carolina median of $1,228. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,552 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 $461,300, 60% above the North Carolina median of $288,900. Median household income is $105,768, 46% above the North Carolina median of $72,388, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.6% of that income.
Commuting in Wake County, NC
Workers in Wake County, NC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.1 minutes each way, in line with the North Carolina average of 25.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 29.1% of workers in Wake County, NC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Food Preparation Workers afford to live in Wake County, NC?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $29,470 that ceiling is $737 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,552 is $815 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.85 an hour; the median for Food Preparation Workers is $14.17, which is 53% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.07 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 29.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,689 a month means $845 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,490 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $7,918, 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 $29,470 median, lower housing costs than the $1,552 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Food Preparation Workers pay in Wake County, NC
How much do Food Preparation Workers make per hour in Wake County, NC?
The median is $14.17 per hour, based on $29,470 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.74 at the 10th percentile to $18.93 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Food Preparation Workers take home after taxes in Wake County, NC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $29,470 becomes $25,097 a year. That is $2,091 a month, $965 every two weeks or $483 a week.
How much tax do Food Preparation Workers pay in Wake County, NC?
Total taxes are $4,373 a year, an effective rate of 14.8%: $1,408 federal income tax, $2,254 FICA and $711 North Carolina income tax.
Do Food Preparation Workers earn more in Wake County, NC than elsewhere in North Carolina?
No. The local median of $29,470 is -5.6% versus the North Carolina average of $31,221, a difference of $1,751 a year.
Can Food Preparation Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Wake County, NC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,552 a month against take-home pay of $2,091, which is 74.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $737 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Food Preparation Workers in Wake County, NC?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $25,670 a year, which is $572 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $48.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Wake County, NC at the 30% guideline?
$29.85 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,624 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Food Preparation Workers is $14.17.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Raleigh-Cary, NC 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 North Carolina 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.