What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Lake County, FL
According to the latest federal wage data for the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metropolitan area, the median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lake County, FL is $28,620 a year, or $13.76 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $25,125 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Lake County, FL.
The mean wage is $30,520, which is 6.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 34,830 people working in this occupation across the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lake County, FL has roughly 412,924 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 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $27,670 a year ($13.30 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $35,990 or more ($17.30 an hour). That is a gap of $8,320 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $28,000 at the 25th percentile and $31,090 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $13.76 an hour or $28,620 a year at the median for Lake County, FL. Before any deductions, that is $2,385 a month, $1,101 every two weeks and $550 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.08 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Lake County, FL compares
Compared with the Florida average
Pay in Lake County, FL runs $442 below the Florida average of $29,062, a gap of 1.5%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Florida would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Florida, the highest median we track for this job is $29,600 in Miami-Dade County, FL.
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 $28,620, Lake County, FL pays $2,811 less, which is 8.9% below 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 Lake County, FL
Among the 530 occupations with published wages in Lake County, FL, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 530 by median pay, ahead of about 0% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $83,550 a year, which is $54,930 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Fast Food and Counter Workers earning the Lake County, FL median of $28,620, they add up to $3,495. The result is $25,125 of take-home pay a year ($2,094 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $12 goes to taxes and $88 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 12.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $12,870. 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 $1,306, an effective 4.6% 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 $1,774 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $415. FICA totals $2,189, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Florida
Florida does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lake County, FL is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $1,431 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $119 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Lake County, FL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lake County, FL show an average adjusted gross income of $78,566 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 4.6% 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 Lake County, FL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lake County, FL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $25,125 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Lake County, FL, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,726 a month ($20,712 a year), and at $1,959 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 82.4% of take-home pay and 72.4% 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 12.0% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lake County, FL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Florida residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,494 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $1,005, for $2,498 in total. Gasoline in Florida averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,427.
What is left over
The basics cost $28,074 a year in Lake County, FL, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $25,125. That is a shortfall of $2,949 a year, or $246 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 244 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $12.08, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Lake County, FL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $28,620 that ceiling is $716 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,726 is $1,011 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $33.19 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.76, which is 59% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.08 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 33.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,959 a month means $980 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,958 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,009, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $28,620 median, lower housing costs than the $1,726 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Lake County, FL
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Lake County, FL?
The median is $13.76 per hour, based on $28,620 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.30 at the 10th percentile to $17.30 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Lake County, FL?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $28,620 becomes $25,125 a year. That is $2,094 a month, $966 every two weeks or $483 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Lake County, FL?
Total taxes are $3,495 a year, an effective rate of 12.2%: $1,306 federal income tax, $2,189 FICA and no Florida income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Lake County, FL than elsewhere in Florida?
No. The local median of $28,620 is -1.5% versus the Florida average of $29,062, a difference of $442 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Lake County, FL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,726 a month against take-home pay of $2,094, which is 82.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $716 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Lake County, FL?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $28,074 a year, which is $2,949 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $246.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lake County, FL at the 30% guideline?
$33.19 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $20,712 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.76.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL 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 Florida 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.