What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Pinellas County, FL
The median pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL is $29,260 per year, which works out to $14.07 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area, the labor market that Pinellas County, FL belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $31,210, which is 6.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 33,910 people working in this occupation across the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Pinellas County, FL has roughly 963,481 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 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $27,580 a year ($13.26 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,820 or more ($17.70 an hour). That is a gap of $9,240 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $28,070 at the 25th percentile and $33,110 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL is $14.07. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $29,260, and the same salary is $2,438 a month before taxes or about $1,125 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $12.33 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Pinellas County, FL compares
Compared with the Florida average
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL is in line with the statewide figure: $29,260 locally against an employment-weighted Florida average of $29,062, a difference of only $198 (0.7%). 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 $29,260, Pinellas County, FL pays $2,171 less, which is 6.9% 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 Pinellas County, FL
Among the 544 occupations with published wages in Pinellas County, FL, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 539 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $103,670 a year, which is $74,410 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $29,260 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $3,621 a year, which leaves $25,639, or $2,137 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $12 goes to taxes and $88 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 12.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $13,510. 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 $1,383, an effective 4.7% 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 $1,814 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $424. FICA totals $2,238, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Florida
There is no state income tax on wages in Florida, which means Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL keep the full $25,639 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $1,463 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $122 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Pinellas County, FL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Pinellas County, FL show an average adjusted gross income of $101,354 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.5%, compared with the 4.7% 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 Pinellas County, FL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Pinellas County, FL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $25,639 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Pinellas County, FL is $1,648 a month, or $19,776 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,917 a month. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 77.1% of take-home pay and 67.6% 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 11.7% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas 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 $27,138 a year in Pinellas County, FL, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $25,639. That is a shortfall of $1,499 a year, or $125 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 122 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $12.33, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Pinellas 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 $29,260 that ceiling is $732 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,648 is $917 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.69 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $14.07, which is 56% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.33 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 30.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,917 a month means $959 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,274 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,775, 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 $29,260 median, lower housing costs than the $1,648 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Pinellas County, FL
What is the hourly wage for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL?
The median is $14.07 per hour, based on $29,260 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.26 at the 10th percentile to $17.70 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $29,260 becomes $25,639 a year. That is $2,137 a month, $986 every two weeks or $493 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL?
Total taxes are $3,621 a year, an effective rate of 12.4%: $1,383 federal income tax, $2,238 FICA and no Florida income tax.
Is pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL above the Florida average?
It is about the same. The local median of $29,260 is within 0.7% of the Florida average of $29,062.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Pinellas County, FL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,648 a month against take-home pay of $2,137, which is 77.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $732 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Pinellas County, FL?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $27,138 a year, which is $1,499 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $125.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Pinellas County, FL at the 30% guideline?
$31.69 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,776 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $14.07.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, 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.