Chef Salary in Tucson, AZ: Median $30,712 in 2026
Tucson (AZ) · COL index 91 · Unemployment 4.4% · Metro pop 1,050,000 · Rank #188 of 283 for Chef salary
A Chef in Tucson earns an estimated median of $30,712 per year. That figure starts from the Arizona state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($34,000) and scales it by Tucson's composite cost-of-living index of 91 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $26,304; the 90th percentile reaches $53,421. After federal, Arizona state, and FICA taxes, a single-filer Chef takes home approximately $26,413/year — about $2,201/month or $1,016 every other week.
Compared to the national Chef median of $58,920, Tucson pays -47.9%. Relative to the Tucson median household income of $50,000, a Chefsalary runs -38.6%. Local unemployment is 4.4%[3], with an estimated 70 annual Chef openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (148,600).
Chef Snapshot — Tucson (2026)
Every row cites a primary public dataset. Rent + home values use Zillow where the metro is in the ZHVI/ZORI coverage set; otherwise ACS + census tract fallbacks.
| Metric | Tucson | National | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chef median salary | $30,712 | $58,920 | [1] |
| 10th percentile | $26,304 | $42,850 | [1] |
| 90th percentile | $53,421 | $105,720 | [1] |
| Annual take-home (single filer) | $26,413 | — | [8][10] |
| Median home value (ZHVI) | $342,047 | — | [5] |
| Median rent (ZORI) | $1,448/mo | — | [5] |
| HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR) | $1,325/mo | — | [6] |
| Median household income (ACS) | $67,929 | — | [7] |
| Cost-of-living index | 91.0 | 100.0 | [4] |
| Unemployment rate | 4.4% | — | [3] |
How Chef Salaries Work in Tucson
City-level wages aren't published directly by BLS for most SOC codes. We build them by anchoring to the Arizona state-level OEWS median ($34,000) and scaling by Tucson's composite cost-of-living index (91)[1][4]. That index combines Census ACS rent, Zillow ZHVI, BLS CPI, and AdvisorSmith / ApartmentAdvisor inputs to produce one number per metro. When BLS publishes a separate metro-level wage (MSA-level OEWS), that takes priority — a handful of large metros including New York, LA, Chicago, and DC have this coverage.
On top of the gross wage, the standard US payroll stack applies: federal income tax using 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction[8], FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45%)[9], and Arizona state income tax at a 1.3% effective rate ($393/yr on the $30,712 median)[10].
Tucson also sits inside a larger metro labor market where commute patterns, remote-work policies, and adjacent-metro wages compete. Near-national unemployment means a balanced market — employers and candidates negotiate from roughly equal positions. Median household income in the metro is $67,929, which frames what "a good Chef salary" means locally: a $$30,712 wage pays about 45% of the median household income on a single earner.
The deterministic identity: take_home = gross − federal − state − FICA − pre_tax. All math runs client-side; nothing is sent to our servers.
Chef Salary & Cost-of-Living Context — Tucson
Buy vs rent in Tucson
Monthly PITI on the $342,047 median home in Tucson is ~$2,323/mo — vs a $1,448/mo median rent. Rent burden on median household income is 25.6%, which falls within the recommended 30% guideline for housing costs.
Cost of Living Breakdown — Tucson
Estimated annual expense shares on a $26,413 take-home, using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey baseline shares scaled to Tucson's COL index of 91. Housing uses the actual median rent.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares[1], scaled by Tucson's COL index of 91[4]. Housing uses actual median rent of $868/month.
Salary vs Housing Affordability in Tucson
Renting
Buying
At $2,201/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $660/mo. Tucson's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,448/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,325/mo), making rent tight but manageable on a median Chef salary. For homebuyers, the 9.6× price-to-income ratio is stretched — expect DTI friction on FHA / conventional underwriting without a co-borrower.
How Tucson Stacks Up for Chefs
Against 283 major US cities: Tucson ranks #188 for nominal Chef salary, #12 for rent affordability, and #91 for overall purchasing power. High cost of living absorbs much of Tucson's nominal wage premium. Chefs here often trade pay for lifestyle, proximity to employers, or family roots — consider nearby metros on a salary-to-COL basis.
Nearby Cities — Chef Salary Comparison
Tucson's closest metros, scaled by each city's cost-of-living index. Useful for relocation decisions where commute or remote-work policies allow a neighboring metro trade-off.
| City | Est. salary | COL | Rent | vs AZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tucson, AZ ★ | $30,712 | 91 | $868 | — |
| Phoenix, AZ | $62,455 | 106 | $1,150 | +103.4% |
| Scottsdale, AZ | $69,526 | 118 | $2,100 | +126.4% |
| Gilbert, AZ | $63,634 | 108 | $1,750 | +107.2% |
| Chandler, AZ | $62,455 | 106 | $1,700 | +103.4% |
| Tempe, AZ | $61,866 | 105 | $1,550 | +101.4% |
Chef Job Market in Tucson
Tucson has an estimated 70 annual Chefopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 148,600 national Chefs[1]. The 4.4% unemployment rate[3] is near the national average, with steady turnover across most sectors.
About the profession: Chefs and head cooks oversee kitchen operations, plan menus, and supervise food preparation in restaurants, hotels, and other food service establishments. Typical entry requirement: associate's degree or culinary certificate. Projected growth through 2034: 6%[2].
Career Progression & Related Professions in Tucson
Early-career Chefs in Tucson start around $26,304, reach the city median ($30,712) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($53,421) at senior / specialized levels.
Related service professions in Tucson
Calculators for Chefs in Tucson
Other professions in Tucson
Frequently Asked Questions — Chef in Tucson
How much does a Chef make in Tucson, AZ?
The estimated median salary for a Chef in Tucson is $30,712/year, scaled from the BLS OEWS Arizona state median ($34,000) by Tucson's composite cost-of-living index of 91 (US = 100). After federal, Arizona state, and FICA taxes, take-home is approximately $26,413/year or $2,201/month.
Can a Chef afford to live in Tucson?
On $2,201/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $660/month. Tucson's Zillow ZORI median rent is $1,448/mo, HUD's 2BR Fair Market Rent is $1,325/mo. The rent-to-income ratio works out to 33.9%, making housing tight but manageable for a Chef at the local median. Home-buyers face 9.6× price-to-income, needing roughly 9.6 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.
How much tax does a Chef pay in Tucson?
On $30,712 gross, a Chef in Tucson pays approximately $1,557 in federal income tax (5.1% effective), $393 in Arizona state income tax (1.3% effective), and $2,349 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 14.0%. Some Arizona cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.
How does Tucson rank for Chef salaries vs other cities?
Tucson ranks #188 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal Chef salary, #12 for rent affordability (rent-to-income), and #91 for purchasing power (salary ÷ COL). The high-purchasing-power cities tend to be mid-size metros with strong local employers and moderate housing costs; the low-ranked cities trade high nominal pay for steep rents.
What is the cost-of-living breakdown for a Chef in Tucson?
On $26,413 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Tucson looks like: housing $10,416/yr (39.4%); food $2,998/yr; transportation $2,546/yr; healthcare $1,799/yr; utilities $1,261/yr; savings + discretionary $7,393/yr. Numbers use BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares scaled to Tucson's COL index of 91 and the city's actual median rent.
What's the Chef job market like in Tucson?
Tucson's unemployment rate is 4.4% across the metro of 1,050,000. Estimated annual Chef openings: ~70 (extrapolated from 148,600 nationally employed and the metro's population share). The market is near national averages with steady turnover.
Do Tucson employers pay above or below the Arizona median for Chefs?
Not consistently — Tucson's estimated Chef median of $30,712 is 47.9% below the national median. The trade-off is usually lower rents and (in some cases) lower state taxes, which can leave real purchasing power competitive.
Methodology — How we compute this page
Wage estimate. The Tucson median is derived from the Arizona state-level BLS OEWS median ($34,000), scaled by Tucson's composite cost-of-living index of 91. When BLS publishes a direct MSA-level wage for the occupation, that takes priority over the scaled state median. Percentile bands inherit the same scale factor.
Housing + rent. Median home value uses Zillow ZHVI; median rent prefers Zillow ZORI and falls back to Census ACS median gross rent. HUD Fair Market Rents (50th-percentile 2BR) are shown where HUD publishes the metro. Price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios use the estimated Chefmedian (not the city's overall median household income) — to reflect the specific role-vs-city affordability picture.
Tax math. Federal tax uses 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction. FICA is Social Security 6.2% up to the $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45% (+ 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000). State tax uses Arizona's 2026 brackets from the state DoR (mirrored via Tax Foundation where the DoR's publication is paywalled or split). Local income taxes (e.g. NYC, Portland-OR supplemental, OH municipal) are NOT included — check your municipal authority for specifics.
Cost of living. The 91index is the composite used by CalcFi's /data/cities.ts, which merges Census ACS, BLS CPI shelter, Zillow ZORI, and commercial COL estimators. The COL-adjusted salary on this page assumes the statewide RPP = 100.7(BEA) approximates the state's purchasing power; cities are then scaled relative to that.
Refresh cadence. BLS OEWS releases annually (typically March); BEA RPP releases annually in December; IRS brackets adjust in October; Zillow ZHVI/ZORI updates monthly; HUD FMR publishes annually in August for the upcoming fiscal year. The dateModified shown above auto-bumps to the most recent retrievedAt on any sourced value the page consumes.
Known limits. Metro-level OEWS coverage is partial — only ~50 large MSAs have separately published occupation wages; the rest inherit state-level estimates scaled by COL. Rent and home data may trail the real-time market by 1–3 months (Zillow) or 8–12 months (ACS). Rankings are capped to the city set in our dataset (283 metros), not every incorporated US city.
Sources
Every number on this page cites a primary public dataset. Last reviewed (auto-bumped on the next ISR refresh after an ETL run).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — state-level occupational wages — www.bls.gov/oes. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- BLS Employment Projections — 2024–34 occupational growth rates — www.bls.gov/emp. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics — metro-level unemployment rate — www.bls.gov/lau. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities (state + metro) — www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- Zillow Research — ZHVI (home value index) + ZORI (observed rent index) — www.zillow.com/research/data. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- HUD Fair Market Rents — 50th-percentile 2-bedroom FY — www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, metro level — www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- Internal Revenue Service — Federal individual income tax brackets and standard deductions — www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-17. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- Social Security Administration — OASDI / Medicare contribution and wage-base rules — www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- Arizona Department of Revenue — 2026 individual income tax brackets (accessed via Tax Foundation mirror) — taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
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