Median pay · Missouri
$36,940A year, or $18 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $28,890 | $14 |
| 25th percentile | $30,790 | $15 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $36,940 | $18 |
| 75th percentile | $42,720 | $21 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $46,970 | $23 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $38,460 | $18 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in MissouriBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$36,940
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$17.76
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$2,589 a month at an effective rate of 15.9%.$31,068 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$40,675
- Against the national medianThe national median is $37,390.1.2% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 0.98 against the nation's 1.00.25,990
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 $36,940 in Missouri, 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 $36,940 is worth in Missouri
Prices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national average of 100, so $36,940 earned here buys what $40,675 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 69.9 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Missouri takes in $70,702, so this occupation's median is 0.52 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 2% less concentrated in Missouri than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for restaurant cooks in Missouri
Rents in Missouri index at 69.9 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 90.8, a gap of -20.9 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
Prices in Missouri index at 90.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $36,940 median buys roughly what $40,675 would at national prices, $3,735 more.
The median for this job is 0.5 times the median household income in Missouri ($70,702). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.
Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($46,970) is only 1.6 times the 10th ($28,890), so most restaurant cooks here earn within a narrow band.
Common questions
Restaurant Cook pay in Missouri, answered
How much does a restaurant cook make in Missouri?
The median wage for restaurant cooks in Missouri is $36,940 a year, or $17.76 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 restaurant cook salary in Missouri?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for restaurant cooks in Missouri is $38,460 a year. The median is $36,940.
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 a restaurant cook in Missouri?
The median hourly wage is $17.76. At a full-time year that lines up with about $36,940 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for a restaurant cook in Missouri?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Missouri, the lowest-paid 10% of restaurant cooks earn under $28,890 a year and a quarter earn under $30,790 ($13.89 and $14.80 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 a restaurant cook in Missouri?
The overall salary range for restaurant cooks in Missouri spans from $28,890 for the bottom 10% to $46,970 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $30,790 and $42,720 a year, with the overall median at $36,940.
What is the take-home pay for a restaurant cook in Missouri?
On the median wage of $36,940, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $31,068 a year, or roughly $2,589 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.9%.
Missouri takes $793 of it in state income tax.
How much does a restaurant cook make a month in Missouri?
On the median annual salary of $36,940, estimated take-home pay is roughly $2,589 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 $1,195 net.
Do restaurant cooks earn more in Missouri than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Missouri is 1.2% below the national median of $37,390.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $36,940 a good salary in Missouri?
It is 0.52 times the median household income of $70,702. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Missouri run at 90.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 69.9, so $36,940 here buys about what $40,675 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid restaurant cooks earn in Missouri?
The top tenth earn $46,970 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $28,890.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Missouri someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many restaurant cooks are there in Missouri?
The survey counted 25,990 of these jobs in Missouri for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 2% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.