Food Service salary guide
Salary Needed for Waiters and Waitresses in Wisconsin
Waiters and Waitresses in Wisconsin: compare salary needs with estimated annual costs. Basic costs are about $45,266, while a 20% cushion is about $54,319.
Updated with BLS OEWS source metadata from May 2025; cost estimates reflect current WatchPennies county-level data.
Salary adequacy in Wisconsin
WatchPennies compares waiter or waitress salary context with statewide median county costs for a single adult household. The comfort target adds a 20% cushion for savings, emergencies, and month-to-month variation.
Baseline annual costs
$45,266
About $3,772 per month.
Comfort salary target
$54,319
About $4,527 per month.
OEWS median salary
$29,670
Adequacy versus comfort target: 55%.
The available salary benchmark is $24,649 below the WatchPennies comfort target for Wisconsin.
Estimated cost mix
View Wisconsin cost of livingMore Waiters and Waitresses states
Compare salary-needed targets for this occupation across all states.
Wisconsin cost of living
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Common questions
What salary is needed for waiters and waitresses in Wisconsin?
WatchPennies estimates baseline annual costs around $45,266 for a single adult household in Wisconsin. A 20% comfort cushion is about $54,319.
Does this page use an official Wisconsin wage benchmark?
Yes. The occupation wage benchmark on this page is imported from BLS OEWS.
What costs are included in the salary-needed estimate?
The estimate includes housing, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare where applicable, other necessities, taxes, and income context from WatchPennies cost data.
Related occupation pages
Sources
Wage benchmark fields are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025, last modified 2026-05-15). Cost estimates use WatchPennies county cost data for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare, necessities, taxes, and income context.