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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers Salary: Washington vs Maine

Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers earn a median of $38,800 in Washington and $37,470 in Maine. That is a nominal gap of $1,330 (+3.5%), with Washington paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$38,800
Washington median
$36,257 after COL
$37,470
Maine median
$38,609 after COL
+3.5%
Nominal gap
Washington leads
-6.1%
Adjusted gap
Maine leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington pays $1,330 more per year than Maine for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, a gap of +3.5%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Maine actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $2,352 more in national-price-level terms (a +6.1% real gap). The higher nominal wage in the other location is eaten up by higher local prices.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers

Washington

Median salary
$38,800
Mean salary
$43,140
Employment
7,070
Location quotient
0.59
Jobs per 1,000
2.0
COL-adjusted median
$36,257
Regional Price Parity
107.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers page for Washington →

Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers

Maine

Median salary
$37,470
Mean salary
$42,280
Employment
1,770
Location quotient
0.82
Jobs per 1,000
2.8
COL-adjusted median
$38,609
Regional Price Parity
97.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Dining Room And Cafeteria Attendants And Bartender Helpers page for Maine →

Related pages

Keep digging into dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.