What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Lehigh County, PA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $29,090: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $13.99 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $29,750, which is 2.3% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 9,110 people working in this occupation across the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lehigh County, PA has roughly 378,792 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,320 a year ($10.73 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,200 or more ($17.40 an hour). That is a gap of $13,880 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $27,680 at the 25th percentile and $32,990 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA is $13.99. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $29,090, and the same salary is $2,424 a month before taxes or about $1,119 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $11.83 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Fast Food and Counter Workers this way: "Perform duties such as taking orders and serving food and beverages. Serve customers at counter or from a steam table. May take payment. May prepare food and beverages."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints"; "Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary"; "Scrub and polish counters, steam tables, and other equipment, and clean glasses, dishes, and fountain equipment"; "Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary".
Job outlook for Fast Food and Counter Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,855,900 jobs in 2025 to 4,079,100 in 2035, a change of +5.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 827,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 21.5% 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 $31,200 for this occupation; the Lehigh County, PA median of $29,090 is 6.8% below it.
How pay in Lehigh County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
The local median of $29,090 sits below the Pennsylvania employment-weighted average of $29,640. The shortfall is $550 a year, or 1.9%, so Lehigh County, PA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Pennsylvania, the highest median we track for this job is $32,220 in Philadelphia County, PA.
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 $29,090, Lehigh County, PA pays $2,341 less, which is 7.5% 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 Lehigh County, PA
Among the 464 occupations with published wages in Lehigh County, PA, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 463 by median pay, ahead of about 0% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $101,440 a year, which is $72,350 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $29,090 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 $4,481 a year, which leaves $24,609, or $2,051 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $13,340. 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 $1,362, an effective 4.7% 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 $1,804 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $422. FICA totals $2,225, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $893 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 66% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $74 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 Lehigh County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lehigh County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $81,980 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.9% 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 4.7% 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 Lehigh County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lehigh County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,609 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lehigh County, PA is $1,519 a month, or $18,228 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,839 a month. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 74.1% of take-home pay and 62.7% 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 11.8% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Pennsylvania residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,877 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $535, for $2,412 in total. Gasoline in Pennsylvania averages $3.40 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,573.
What is left over
The basics cost $25,649 a year in Lehigh County, PA, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $24,609. That is a shortfall of $1,040 a year, or $87 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 88 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $11.83, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Lehigh County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lehigh County, PA: 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 Lehigh County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Lehigh County, PA
Homeowners in Lehigh County, PA pay a median of $4,651 a year in real estate taxes, 40% above the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 49% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $300,400, the median tax bill is 1.55% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $29,090, a tax bill of that size would equal 16.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lehigh County, PA
Renters in Lehigh County, PA pay a median gross rent of $1,383 a month in the Census survey, 14% above the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,519 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 $300,400, 18% above the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $80,079, 3% above the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.8% of that income.
Commuting in Lehigh County, PA
Workers in Lehigh County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.9 minutes each way, 5% below the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. 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. 14.0% of workers in Lehigh County, PA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Lehigh County, PA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $29,090 that ceiling is $727 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,519 is $792 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.21 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.99, which is 52% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.83 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 29.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,839 a month means $920 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,194 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,154, 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 $29,090 median, lower housing costs than the $1,519 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Lehigh County, PA
What is the hourly wage for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA?
The median is $13.99 per hour, based on $29,090 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.73 at the 10th percentile to $17.40 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $29,090 becomes $24,609 a year. That is $2,051 a month, $947 every two weeks or $473 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA?
Total taxes are $4,481 a year, an effective rate of 15.4%: $1,362 federal income tax, $2,225 FICA and $893 Pennsylvania income tax.
Is pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA above the Pennsylvania average?
No. The local median of $29,090 is -1.9% versus the Pennsylvania average of $29,640, a difference of $550 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Lehigh County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,519 a month against take-home pay of $2,051, which is 74.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $727 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lehigh County, PA?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $25,649 a year, which is $1,040 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $87.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lehigh County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$29.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,228 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.99.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ 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 Pennsylvania 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.