What Waiters and Waitresses earn in Amelia County, VA
The median pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA is $38,470 per year, which works out to $18.50 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Richmond, VA metropolitan area, the labor market that Amelia County, VA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $45,010, which is 17.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,120 people working in this occupation across the Richmond, VA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Amelia County, VA has roughly 13,462 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 Richmond, VA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $27,560 a year ($13.25 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $74,000 or more ($35.58 an hour). That is a gap of $46,440 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $30,390 at the 25th percentile and $50,030 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 Amelia County, VA is $18.50. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $38,470, and the same salary is $3,206 a month before taxes or about $1,480 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.21 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 Amelia County, VA median of $38,470 is 9.2% above it.
How pay in Amelia County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
The local median of $38,470 sits below the Virginia employment-weighted average of $42,536. The shortfall is $4,066 a year, or 9.6%, so Amelia County, VA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Virginia, the highest median we track for this job is $46,040 in Fairfax County, VA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Waiters and Waitresses is $33,856 across the contiguous United States. At $38,470, Amelia County, VA pays $4,614 more, which is 13.6% 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 Amelia County, VA
Among the 516 occupations with published wages in Amelia County, VA, Waiters and Waitresses ranks number 449 by median pay, ahead of about 13% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $108,670 a year, which is $70,200 more than the median for Waiters and Waitresses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $38,470 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 $6,843 a year, which leaves $31,627, or $2,636 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $22,720. 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 $2,488, an effective 6.5% 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 $2,385 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $558. FICA totals $2,943, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,412 a year, or 3.7% 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 $118 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 Amelia County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Amelia County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $73,172 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.5% 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 Amelia County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Amelia County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $31,627 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Amelia County, VA is $1,517 a month, or $18,204 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,651 a month. For Waiters and Waitresses, a one-bedroom absorbs 57.6% of take-home pay and 47.3% 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 8.9% of gross pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $25,188 a year, 80% of take-home pay. That leaves $6,439 a year, or $537 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 16.7% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Amelia County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Amelia County, VA: 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 Amelia County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Amelia County, VA
Homeowners in Amelia County, VA pay a median of $1,079 a year in real estate taxes, 61% below the Virginia median of $2,790 and 65% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $282,400, the median tax bill is 0.38% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Waiters and Waitresses median of $38,470, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Amelia County, VA
Renters in Amelia County, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,164 a month in the Census survey, 26% below the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,517 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 $282,400, 26% below the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $76,717, 18% below the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.7% of that income.
Commuting in Amelia County, VA
Workers in Amelia County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 40.1 minutes each way, 47% above the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 6.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.7% of workers in Amelia County, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Waiters and Waitresses afford to live in Amelia County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $38,470 that ceiling is $962 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,517 is $555 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.17 an hour; the median for Waiters and Waitresses is $18.50, which is 37% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.21 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 23.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,651 a month means $826 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,298 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $14,737.
How fast you can save
At $537 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 19 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 38 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Waiters and Waitresses pay in Amelia County, VA
What is the hourly wage for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA?
The median is $18.50 per hour, based on $38,470 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.25 at the 10th percentile to $35.58 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $38,470 becomes $31,627 a year. That is $2,636 a month, $1,216 every two weeks or $608 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA?
Total taxes are $6,843 a year, an effective rate of 17.8%: $2,488 federal income tax, $2,943 FICA and $1,412 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA above the Virginia average?
No. The local median of $38,470 is -9.6% versus the Virginia average of $42,536, a difference of $4,066 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Waiters and Waitresses salary in Amelia County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,517 a month against take-home pay of $2,636, which is 57.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $962 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Waiters and Waitresses in Amelia County, VA?
About $537 a month ($6,439 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,188 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Amelia County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$29.17 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,204 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Waiters and Waitresses is $18.50.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Richmond, VA 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 Virginia 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.