Cooks, Restaurant Salary in Ames, IA

Cooks, Restaurant pay range in Ames

New workers and the lowest-paid 10% earn about $29,380 a year or less, while the top 10% make $48,200 or more. The middle half of cooks, restaurant in Ames earn between $31,210 and $42,630.

*Hourly figures assume 2,080 paid hours a year.

Cooks, Restaurant salary after taxes in Ames

On the average salary of $37,170, a single filer in Ames takes home about $31,245 a year, or $2,604 a month and $1,202 every two weeks. Taxes take 16% of gross pay.

Single filer, standard deduction: federal income tax (2026 brackets), Social Security, Medicare and state income tax (2026 rules). Iowa school district surtaxes (a percentage of state tax in some districts) are not included.

Is Ames a good place for cooks, restaurant? Pay vs. cost of living

Prices in the Ames area are 11% below the U.S. average (BEA price parity 88.8), so the average $37,170 buys what about $41,844 would buy in a typical U.S. metro. This job pays 0.7 times the median wage of all jobs in Ames ($50,220). A typical home costs $280,269, or 7.5 years of this average salary before tax.

See what $37,170 is worth in another city

Cooks, Restaurant salary in other Iowa cities

Ames ranks 1st of 8 Iowa metro areas for this job, the best-paid in the state.

All Cooks, Restaurant salaries in Iowa

Highest-paying cities for cooks, restaurant

Kahului, HI pays this job the most of the metro areas we cover ($54,460).

Cooks, Restaurant salary by city

Related jobs in Ames

• Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$37,200 a year
• Cooks, Short Order$35,520 a year
• Food Preparation Workers$32,560 a year
• Chefs and Head Cooks$58,540 a year
• First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$43,400 a year
• Food Servers, Nonrestaurant$31,890 a year
• Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$30,780 a year
• Dishwashers$30,520 a year

Average salary in Ames and every job