Median pay · Nebraska
$31,540A year, or $15 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $28,790 | $14 |
| 25th percentile | $29,450 | $14 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $31,540 | $15 |
| 75th percentile | $35,190 | $17 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $38,510 | $19 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $32,860 | $16 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in NebraskaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$31,540
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$15.17
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$2,245 a month at an effective rate of 14.6%.$26,945 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Nebraska sit at 90.1 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$35,004
- Against the national medianThe national median is $35,360.10.8% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1.96 against the nation's 1.00.3,800
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $31,540 in Nebraska, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $31,540 is worth in Nebraska
Prices in Nebraska sit at 90.1 against a national average of 100, so $31,540 earned here buys what $35,004 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 75.2 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Nebraska takes in $76,475, so this occupation's median is 0.41 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 96% more concentrated in Nebraska than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska
Rents in Nebraska index at 75.2 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 90.1, a gap of -14.9 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
Prices in Nebraska index at 90.1 (U.S. = 100), so the $31,540 median buys roughly what $35,004 would at national prices, $3,464 more.
Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($38,510) is only 1.3 times the 10th ($28,790), so most food servers, nonrestaurant here earn within a narrow band.
The median for this job is 0.4 times the median household income in Nebraska ($76,475). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.
Common questions
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant pay in Nebraska, answered
How much do food servers, nonrestaurant make in Nebraska?
The median wage for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska is $31,540 a year, or $15.17 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average Food Servers, Nonrestaurant salary in Nebraska?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska is $32,860 a year. The median is $31,540.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska?
The median hourly wage is $15.17. At a full-time year that lines up with about $31,540 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Nebraska, the lowest-paid 10% of food servers, nonrestaurant earn under $28,790 a year and a quarter earn under $29,450 ($13.84 and $14.16 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska?
The overall salary range for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska spans from $28,790 for the bottom 10% to $38,510 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $29,450 and $35,190 a year, with the overall median at $31,540.
What is the take-home pay for food servers, nonrestaurant in Nebraska?
On the median wage of $31,540, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $26,945 a year, or roughly $2,245 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 14.6%.
Nebraska takes $577 of it in state income tax.
How much does food servers, nonrestaurant make a month in Nebraska?
On the median annual salary of $31,540, estimated take-home pay is roughly $2,245 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,036 net.
Do food servers, nonrestaurant earn more in Nebraska than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Nebraska is 10.8% below the national median of $35,360.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Nebraska sit at 90.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $31,540 a good salary in Nebraska?
It is 0.41 times the median household income of $76,475. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Nebraska run at 90.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 75.2, so $31,540 here buys about what $35,004 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid food servers, nonrestaurant earn in Nebraska?
The top tenth earn $38,510 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $28,790.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Nebraska someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many food servers, nonrestaurant are there in Nebraska?
The survey counted 3,800 of these jobs in Nebraska for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 96% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.