What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in El Paso County, TX
According to the latest federal wage data for the El Paso, TX metropolitan area, the median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in El Paso County, TX is $23,030 a year, or $11.07 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $20,540 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for El Paso County, TX.
The mean wage is $24,860, which is 7.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 13,520 people working in this occupation across the El Paso, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. El Paso County, TX has roughly 870,779 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 El Paso, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $18,990 a year ($9.13 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $30,550 or more ($14.69 an hour). That is a gap of $11,560 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $21,910 at the 25th percentile and $27,230 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: $11.07 an hour or $23,030 a year at the median for El Paso County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $1,919 a month, $886 every two weeks and $443 each week. After taxes the same job pays $9.88 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in El Paso County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Pay in El Paso County, TX runs $3,982 below the Texas average of $27,012, a gap of 14.7%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Texas would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $29,310 in Travis County, TX.
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 $23,030, El Paso County, TX pays $8,401 less, which is 26.7% 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 El Paso County, TX
Among the 426 occupations with published wages in El Paso County, TX, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 420 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Customer Service Representatives at $37,640 a year, which is $14,610 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter 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 Fast Food and Counter Workers earning the El Paso County, TX median of $23,030, they add up to $2,490. The result is $20,540 of take-home pay a year ($1,712 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $11 goes to taxes and $89 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 10.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $7,280. 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 10% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $728, an effective 3.2% of gross pay, well below the 10% 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 $1,428 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $334. FICA totals $1,762, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Fast Food and Counter Workers in El Paso County, TX is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $1,152 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $96 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for El Paso County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for El Paso County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $58,145 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.4% across all filers. Filers in the $10,000 to under $25,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 3.9%, compared with the 3.2% 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 El Paso County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in El Paso County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $20,540 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For El Paso County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $969 a month ($11,628 a year), and at $1,146 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 56.6% of take-home pay and 50.5% 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 14.9% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in El Paso County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $18,695 a year in El Paso County, TX. Subtract that from $20,540 of take-home pay and $1,845 remains, which is $154 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 8.0% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in El Paso County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $23,030 that ceiling is $576 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $969 is $393 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $18.63 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $11.07, which is 41% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $9.88 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 22.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,146 a month means $573 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,752 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,597.
How fast you can save
At $154 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 66 months (5.5 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 132 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in El Paso County, TX
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in El Paso County, TX?
The median is $11.07 per hour, based on $23,030 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $9.13 at the 10th percentile to $14.69 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in El Paso County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $23,030 becomes $20,540 a year. That is $1,712 a month, $790 every two weeks or $395 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in El Paso County, TX?
Total taxes are $2,490 a year, an effective rate of 10.8%: $728 federal income tax, $1,762 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in El Paso County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
No. The local median of $23,030 is -14.7% versus the Texas average of $27,012, a difference of $3,982 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in El Paso County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $969 a month against take-home pay of $1,712, which is 56.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $576 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in El Paso County, TX?
About $154 a month ($1,845 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $18,695 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in El Paso County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$18.63 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $11,628 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $11.07.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the El Paso, TX 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 Texas 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.