What Cooks, Restaurant earn in Newport News city, VA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $36,280: the median annual pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $17.44 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $36,530, which is 0.7% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 8,380 people working in this occupation across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Newport News city, VA has roughly 184,216 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 Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $29,210 a year ($14.04 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $44,280 or more ($21.29 an hour). That is a gap of $15,070 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $30,350 at the 25th percentile and $37,890 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 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 Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA is $17.44. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $36,280, and the same salary is $3,023 a month before taxes or about $1,395 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $14.42 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 Newport News city, VA median of $36,280 is 3.0% below it.
How pay in Newport News city, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
The local median of $36,280 sits below the Virginia employment-weighted average of $39,822. The shortfall is $3,542 a year, or 8.9%, so Newport News city, 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 $42,920 in Fairfax County, VA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cooks, Restaurant is $38,193 across the contiguous United States. At $36,280, Newport News city, VA pays $1,913 less, which is 5.0% 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 Newport News city, VA
Among the 520 occupations with published wages in Newport News city, VA, Cooks, Restaurant ranks number 468 by median pay, ahead of about 10% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $129,090 a year, which is $92,810 more than the median for Cooks, Restaurant.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $36,280 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 $6,287 a year, which leaves $29,993, or $2,499 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $20,530. 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 $2,225, an effective 6.1% 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 $2,249 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $526. FICA totals $2,775, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,286 a year, or 3.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 58% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $107 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 Newport News city, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Newport News city, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $61,056 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 9.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.5%, compared with the 6.1% 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 Newport News city, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Newport News city, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $29,993 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Newport News city, VA is $1,488 a month, or $17,856 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,667 a month. For Cooks, Restaurant, a one-bedroom absorbs 59.5% of take-home pay and 49.2% 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 9.5% of gross pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, 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 $24,840 a year, 83% of take-home pay. That leaves $5,153 a year, or $429 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 14.2% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Newport News city, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Newport News city, 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 Newport News city, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Newport News city, VA
Homeowners in Newport News city, VA pay a median of $2,634 a year in real estate taxes, 6% below the Virginia median of $2,790 and 16% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $260,600, the median tax bill is 1.01% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cooks, Restaurant median of $36,280, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Newport News city, VA
Renters in Newport News city, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,339 a month in the Census survey, 15% 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 $1,488 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 $260,600, 32% below the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $69,634, 25% below the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 25.6% of that income.
Commuting in Newport News city, VA
Workers in Newport News city, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 23.1 minutes each way, 15% below the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.2% of workers in Newport News city, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cooks, Restaurant afford to live in Newport News city, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $36,280 that ceiling is $907 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,488 is $581 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $28.62 an hour; the median for Cooks, Restaurant is $17.44, which is 39% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.42 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 23.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,667 a month means $834 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,854 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,007.
How fast you can save
At $429 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 24 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 48 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cooks, Restaurant pay in Newport News city, VA
What is the hourly wage for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA?
The median is $17.44 per hour, based on $36,280 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.04 at the 10th percentile to $21.29 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $36,280 becomes $29,993 a year. That is $2,499 a month, $1,154 every two weeks or $577 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA?
Total taxes are $6,287 a year, an effective rate of 17.3%: $2,225 federal income tax, $2,775 FICA and $1,286 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA above the Virginia average?
No. The local median of $36,280 is -8.9% versus the Virginia average of $39,822, a difference of $3,542 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Cooks, Restaurant salary in Newport News city, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,488 a month against take-home pay of $2,499, which is 59.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $907 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Cooks, Restaurant in Newport News city, VA?
About $429 a month ($5,153 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,840 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Newport News city, VA at the 30% guideline?
$28.62 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,856 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cooks, Restaurant is $17.44.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC 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.