What Waiters and Waitresses earn in Erie County, NY
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $46,580: the median annual pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $22.39 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $54,310, which is 16.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,990 people working in this occupation across the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Erie County, NY has roughly 950,622 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Waiters and Waitresses in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $32,240 a year ($15.50 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $86,590 or more ($41.63 an hour). That is a gap of $54,350 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,460 at the 25th percentile and $63,110 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.7 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 Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY is $22.39. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $46,580, and the same salary is $3,882 a month before taxes or about $1,792 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $18.08 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Waiters and Waitresses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Waiters and Waitresses this way: "Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages"; "Collect payments from customers"; "Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff"; "Take orders from patrons for food or beverages".
Job outlook for Waiters and Waitresses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,284,400 jobs in 2025 to 2,330,900 in 2035, a change of +2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 423,100 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 18.5% 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 $35,230 for this occupation; the Erie County, NY median of $46,580 is 32.2% above it.
How pay in Erie County, NY compares
Compared with the New York average
The local median of $46,580 sits below the New York employment-weighted average of $47,178. The shortfall is $598 a year, or 1.3%, so Erie County, NY is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within New York, the highest median we track for this job is $47,610 in Kings County, NY.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Waiters and Waitresses is $33,856 across the contiguous United States. At $46,580, Erie County, NY pays $12,724 more, which is 37.6% 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 Erie County, NY
Among the 523 occupations with published wages in Erie County, NY, Waiters and Waitresses ranks number 392 by median pay, ahead of about 25% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $103,280 a year, which is $56,700 more than the median for Waiters and Waitresses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $46,580 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 $8,981 a year, which leaves $37,599, or $3,133 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $30,830. 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 $3,461, an effective 7.4% 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 $2,888 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $675. FICA totals $3,563, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New York
New York income tax on this salary is $1,957 a year, or 4.2% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 57% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $163 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 Erie County, NY
IRS Statistics of Income data for Erie County, NY show an average adjusted gross income of $83,474 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.2%, compared with the 7.4% 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 Erie County, NY
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Erie County, NY: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $37,599 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Erie County, NY is $1,203 a month, or $14,436 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,423 a month. For Waiters and Waitresses, a one-bedroom absorbs 38.4% of take-home pay and 31.0% 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 7.4% of gross pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New York residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,581 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $653, for $3,235 in total. Gasoline in New York averages $3.17 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,467.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $22,573 a year, 60% of take-home pay. That leaves $15,025 a year, or $1,252 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 32.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Erie County, NY
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Erie County, NY: 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 Erie County, NY, set beside the New York and national medians.
Property taxes in Erie County, NY
Homeowners in Erie County, NY pay a median of $4,622 a year in real estate taxes, 30% below the New York median of $6,582 and 48% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $233,800, the median tax bill is 1.98% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Waiters and Waitresses median of $46,580, a tax bill of that size would equal 9.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Erie County, NY
Renters in Erie County, NY pay a median gross rent of $1,090 a month in the Census survey, 33% below the New York median of $1,621. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,203 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 $233,800, 45% below the New York median of $423,800. Median household income is $72,839, 15% below the New York median of $85,974, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.8% of that income.
Commuting in Erie County, NY
Workers in Erie County, NY who travel to a workplace spend an average of 21.3 minutes each way, 35% below the New York average of 32.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.9% of workers in Erie County, NY work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Waiters and Waitresses afford to live in Erie County, NY?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $46,580 that ceiling is $1,165 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,203 is $39 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.13 an hour; the median for Waiters and Waitresses is $22.39, which is 3% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $18.08 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,423 a month means $712 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,898 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $20,923.
How fast you can save
At $1,252 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 8 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 16 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Waiters and Waitresses pay in Erie County, NY
What is the hourly wage for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY?
The median is $22.39 per hour, based on $46,580 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.50 at the 10th percentile to $41.63 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $46,580 becomes $37,599 a year. That is $3,133 a month, $1,446 every two weeks or $723 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY?
Total taxes are $8,981 a year, an effective rate of 19.3%: $3,461 federal income tax, $3,563 FICA and $1,957 New York income tax.
Is pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY above the New York average?
No. The local median of $46,580 is -1.3% versus the New York average of $47,178, a difference of $598 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Waiters and Waitresses salary in Erie County, NY?
A one-bedroom costs $1,203 a month against take-home pay of $3,133, which is 38.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,165 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Waiters and Waitresses in Erie County, NY?
About $1,252 a month ($15,025 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,573 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Erie County, NY at the 30% guideline?
$23.13 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,436 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Waiters and Waitresses is $22.39.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY 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 York 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.