What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Dallas County, TX
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $28,070: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Dallas County, TX. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $13.50 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $29,350, which is 4.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 128,380 people working in this occupation across the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Dallas County, TX has roughly 2,621,179 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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $23,090 a year ($11.10 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,240 or more ($17.42 an hour). That is a gap of $13,150 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $26,840 at the 25th percentile and $31,150 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $13.50 an hour or $28,070 a year at the median for Dallas County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $2,339 a month, $1,080 every two weeks and $540 each week. After taxes the same job pays $11.87 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Dallas County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
A worker in this occupation in Dallas County, TX earns $1,058 more than the Texas average of $27,012, a premium of 3.9%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,058 before tax and roughly $931 after tax. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $29,310 in Travis County, TX.
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 $28,070, Dallas County, TX pays $3,361 less, which is 10.7% 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 Dallas County, TX
Among the 627 occupations with published wages in Dallas County, TX, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 621 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,810 a year, which is $145,740 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 Dallas County, TX median of $28,070, they add up to $3,387. The result is $24,683 of take-home pay a year ($2,057 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 12.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $12,320. 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 $1,240, an effective 4.4% 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 $1,740 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $407. FICA totals $2,147, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Dallas County, TX 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 $1,404 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $117 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Dallas County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Dallas County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $107,338 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 17.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.9%, compared with the 4.4% 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 Dallas County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Dallas County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,683 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Dallas County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,536 a month ($18,432 a year), and at $1,807 for two bedrooms. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 74.7% of take-home pay and 65.7% 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 12.2% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Dallas County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
The basics cost $25,499 a year in Dallas County, TX, but take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $24,683. That is a shortfall of $817 a year, or $68 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 69 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $11.87, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Dallas County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $28,070 that ceiling is $702 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,536 is $834 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.54 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.50, which is 54% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.87 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 29.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,807 a month means $904 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,590 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $6,773, 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 $28,070 median, lower housing costs than the $1,536 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Dallas County, TX
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make per hour in Dallas County, TX?
The median is $13.50 per hour, based on $28,070 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.10 at the 10th percentile to $17.42 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers take home after taxes in Dallas County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $28,070 becomes $24,683 a year. That is $2,057 a month, $949 every two weeks or $475 a week.
How much tax do Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Dallas County, TX?
Total taxes are $3,387 a year, an effective rate of 12.1%: $1,240 federal income tax, $2,147 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Fast Food and Counter Workers earn more in Dallas County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes. The local median of $28,070 is +3.9% versus the Texas average of $27,012, a difference of $1,058 a year.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,536 a month against take-home pay of $2,057, which is 74.7% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $702 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Dallas County, TX?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $25,499 a year, which is $817 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $68.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Dallas County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$29.54 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,432 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $13.50.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 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 Texas 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.