Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

The figures

The median Fast Food and Counter Workers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area earns $36,290 a year ($17.45 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Fast Food and Counter Workers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn between $34,210 and $37,260 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $31,520 or less and the top 10 percent earn $39,440 or more. BLS estimates 60,130 Fast Food and Counter Workers jobs in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area — 22.237 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 0.9 (below the national concentration). That is 1.6% of all Fast Food and Counter Workers employment in the United States (3,854,050 jobs nationally). By employment, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is the #9 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Fast Food and Counter Workers. In aggregate, Fast Food and Counter Workers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn about $2.18 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $29,799.16 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Fast Food and Counter Workers is about $1.79 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 4.5% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH stands #7 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Fast Food and Counter Workers. By employment, Fast Food and Counter Workers is the #5 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Placed against the national distribution for Fast Food and Counter Workers, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $36,290 falls above the national 75th percentile of $36,070. Across all occupations, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median is $66,620 a year — Fast Food and Counter Workers pay is 45.5% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Fast Food and Counter Workers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn 1.3 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($39,440 against $31,520). The middle half spans $3,050 — from $34,210 to $37,260. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($18.96) is 1.25 times the 10th ($15.16). In the upper half of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $37,260 takes home $30,575.40 and the 90th percentile wage of $39,440 takes home $32,217.98 — $1,642.58 more net for $2,180 more gross. Against the median take-home of $29,844.34, the top decile keeps 1.08 times as much. The mean wage of $36,230 sits 0.2% below the median: the average is held down by the lower end of the distribution in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Among the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks #29 by median pay. In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH wage ladder of covered occupations, Fast Food and Counter Workers sits between Retail Salespersons at $36,850 and Cashiers at $36,040. Fast Food and Counter Workers accounts for 2.2% of all employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area. The average covered metro employs 62,486 Fast Food and Counter Workers; Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH employs 1.0 times that.

Take-home pay on the median wage in Massachusetts

Single filer, no dependents, no pre-tax contributions, paid biweekly, a full year of W-2 wages in Massachusetts; city and local taxes are not included:

At the median, $29,844.34 of the $36,290 gross is kept ($1,147.86 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 17.76%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 16.72% at the 10th percentile, 17.34% at the 25th percentile, 17.94% at the 75th percentile, 18.31% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $2,298.34 on a gross rise of $3,050.

The same engine at the other published points of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH wage distribution:

Across the published distribution, take-home pay runs from $26,250.32 a year at the 10th percentile to $32,217.98 at the 90th — a spread of $5,967.66 of net pay inside one occupation and one metro area.

For scale: across all occupations, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median wage of $66,620 takes home $52,686.34 a year ($2,026.40 per paycheck, deduction rate 20.92%). The Fast Food and Counter Workers median take-home of $29,844.34 sits $22,842.00 (below that area-wide figure.

Multi-state metro area. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH also covers parts of New Hampshire. The take-home estimate above uses Massachusetts rules — the metro area's primary state. If the job is based in another part of the metro area, the state tax changes: see the New Hampshire paycheck calculator.

Run your own numbers

Your own withholding depends on your Form W-4, your benefits and your other income — run your exact figures through the calculator:

Take-home pay for $36,290 in Massachusetts

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Fast Food and Counter Workers earns $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour). The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $36,290 is $5,090 (16.3%) above the national median.

The means rank the area the same way: $36,230 a year in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH against $32,150 nationally, a gap of $4,080 (12.7%).

Set against the whole local market, the Fast Food and Counter Workers 90th percentile of $39,440 is 23% of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH all-occupations 90th percentile ($168,090), and its 10th percentile of $31,520 is 86% of the area-wide 10th ($36,760).

Sources and method

Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released May 15, 2026), retrieved October 27, 2026 — bls.gov/oes. OEWS figures are survey estimates for May 2025, not job offers. Take-home pay is computed by this site's paycheck engine with 2026 federal and state rules; the method, and what the engine does not model, is documented in the paycheck methodology guide. Estimates only — not tax advice.