What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Pierce County, WA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, the median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA is $39,150 a year, or $18.82 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $33,586 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Pierce County, WA.
The mean wage is $42,260, which is 7.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 49,190 people working in this occupation across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Pierce County, WA has roughly 930,319 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $35,580 a year ($17.11 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $50,980 or more ($24.51 an hour). That is a gap of $15,400 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,690 at the 25th percentile and $45,250 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.4 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 Pierce County, WA is $18.82. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $39,150, and the same salary is $3,263 a month before taxes or about $1,506 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $16.15 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Pierce County, WA compares
Compared with the Washington average
Pierce County, WA pays above the state benchmark. The Washington employment-weighted average for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $37,254; the local median of $39,150 beats it by $1,896, or 5.1%. Within Washington, Pierce County, WA already has the highest median we track for this job.
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 $39,150, Pierce County, WA pays $7,719 more, which is 24.6% 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 Pierce County, WA
Among the 612 occupations with published wages in Pierce County, WA, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 606 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $214,680 a year, which is $175,530 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $39,150 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 $5,564 a year, which leaves $33,586, or $2,799 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $23,400. 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 $2,570, an effective 6.6% 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 $2,427 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $568. FICA totals $2,995, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Washington
There is no state income tax on wages in Washington, which means Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA keep the full $33,586 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $1,958 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $163 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Pierce County, WA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Pierce County, WA show an average adjusted gross income of $94,511 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 5.2%, compared with the 6.6% 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 Pierce County, WA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Pierce County, WA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,586 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Pierce County, WA is $1,682 a month, or $20,184 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,064 a month. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 60.1% of take-home pay and 51.6% 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 8.8% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Washington residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,257 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $475, for $1,732 in total. Gasoline in Washington averages $4.07 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,883.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $27,234 a year, 81% of take-home pay. That leaves $6,351 a year, or $529 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 16.2% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Pierce County, WA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $39,150 that ceiling is $979 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,682 is $703 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $32.35 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $18.82, which is 42% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $16.15 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 24.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,064 a month means $1,032 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,800 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $14,151.
How fast you can save
At $529 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 Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Pierce County, WA
What is the hourly wage for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA?
The median is $18.82 per hour, based on $39,150 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.11 at the 10th percentile to $24.51 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $39,150 becomes $33,586 a year. That is $2,799 a month, $1,292 every two weeks or $646 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA?
Total taxes are $5,564 a year, an effective rate of 14.2%: $2,570 federal income tax, $2,995 FICA and no Washington income tax.
Is pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA above the Washington average?
Yes. The local median of $39,150 is +5.1% versus the Washington average of $37,254, a difference of $1,896 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Pierce County, WA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,682 a month against take-home pay of $2,799, which is 60.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $979 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pierce County, WA?
About $529 a month ($6,351 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,234 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Pierce County, WA at the 30% guideline?
$32.35 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $20,184 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $18.82.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 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 Washington 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.