What Cooks, Restaurant earn in Salem County, NJ
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $38,270: the median annual pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Salem County, NJ. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $18.40 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $38,970, which is 1.8% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 24,220 people working in this occupation across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Salem County, NJ has roughly 65,275 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $29,750 a year ($14.30 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $47,010 or more ($22.60 an hour). That is a gap of $17,260 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,790 at the 25th percentile and $44,040 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $18.40 an hour or $38,270 a year at the median for Salem County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $3,189 a month, $1,472 every two weeks and $736 each week. After taxes the same job pays $15.51 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 Salem County, NJ median of $38,270 is 2.4% above it.
How pay in Salem County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
Pay in Salem County, NJ runs $3,766 below the New Jersey average of $42,036, a gap of 9.0%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of New Jersey would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within New Jersey, the highest median we track for this job is $43,740 in Bergen County, NJ.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Cooks, Restaurant earn an employment-weighted average of $38,193 across the contiguous United States, so $38,270 in Salem County, NJ is essentially average. 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 Salem County, NJ
Among the 636 occupations with published wages in Salem County, NJ, Cooks, Restaurant ranks number 574 by median pay, ahead of about 10% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,470 a year, which is $135,200 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 Salem County, NJ median of $38,270, they add up to $6,014. The result is $32,257 of take-home pay a year ($2,688 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $22,520. 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 $2,464, an effective 6.4% 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 $2,373 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $555. FICA totals $2,928, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $622 a year, or 1.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 25% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $52 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 Salem County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Salem County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $77,214 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 6.4% 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 Salem County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Salem County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,257 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Salem County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,558 a month ($18,696 a year), and at $1,860 for two bedrooms. For Cooks, Restaurant, a one-bedroom absorbs 58.0% of take-home pay and 48.9% 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 9.0% of gross pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Salem County, NJ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Jersey residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,044 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $518, for $2,562 in total. Gasoline in New Jersey averages $3.21 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,484.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,177 a year in Salem County, NJ. Subtract that from $32,257 of take-home pay and $6,079 remains, which is $507 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 15.9% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Salem County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Salem County, NJ: 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 Salem County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Salem County, NJ
Homeowners in Salem County, NJ pay a median of $7,018 a year in real estate taxes, 27% below the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 125% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $239,500, the median tax bill is 2.93% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Restaurant median of $38,270, a tax bill of that size would equal 18.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Salem County, NJ
Renters in Salem County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,253 a month in the Census survey, 27% below the New Jersey median of $1,720. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,558 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 $239,500, 47% below the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $79,960, 23% below the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.4% of that income.
Commuting in Salem County, NJ
Workers in Salem County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.5 minutes each way, 13% below the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 9.5% of workers in Salem County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford to live in Salem County, NJ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $38,270 that ceiling is $957 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,558 is $601 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.96 an hour; the median for Cooks, Restaurant is $18.40, which is 39% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.51 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 23.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,860 a month means $930 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,536 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,615.
How fast you can save
At $507 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 20 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 40 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Restaurant pay in Salem County, NJ
How much do Cooks, Restaurant make per hour in Salem County, NJ?
The median is $18.40 per hour, based on $38,270 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.30 at the 10th percentile to $22.60 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cooks, Restaurant take home after taxes in Salem County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $38,270 becomes $32,257 a year. That is $2,688 a month, $1,241 every two weeks or $620 a week.
How much tax do Cooks, Restaurant pay in Salem County, NJ?
Total taxes are $6,014 a year, an effective rate of 15.7%: $2,464 federal income tax, $2,928 FICA and $622 New Jersey income tax.
Do Cooks, Restaurant earn more in Salem County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
No. The local median of $38,270 is -9.0% versus the New Jersey average of $42,036, a difference of $3,766 a year.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford a one-bedroom apartment in Salem County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,558 a month against take-home pay of $2,688, which is 58.0% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $957 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cooks, Restaurant in Salem County, NJ?
About $507 a month ($6,079 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,177 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Salem County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$29.96 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,696 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Restaurant is $18.40.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 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 New Jersey 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.