Eric Gay/AP
Employees at Whataburger, a Texas-based fast-food chain, say they make an average of $8 to $12 an hour.
- While most United States fast-food employees make well above the national minimum wage, hourly pay varies depending on the chain.
- Additional factors for pay variation include franchises in states with higher minimum wage laws and higher compensation for manager positions.
- We used self-reported salary information from both Payscale and Glassdoor to take a closer look at what fast-food workers make across the United States, from California's In-and-Out to Culver's in the Midwest.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
While dollar menu items are often similar across franchises, equal hourly wages for fast-food workers are not a uniform requirement.
Some fast-food chains are infamous for paying more than others, such as California-based In-and-Out Burger mandating its employees make a whopping $13 an hour. In every chain, assistant manager and manager positions often make more than cashiers or line cooks, but hourly pay also fluctuates depending on state minimum wage laws.
Read more: Here's what fast food workers earn in every state
Previous reporting from Business Insider's Kate Taylor in 2016 confirmed that many fast-food chains increased wages, despite the national standard staying the same since 2009. Still $7.25 an hour, almost all fast-food workers earn more than the national minimum wage. Business Insider's Morris Pearl reported how increasing wages is the best way to find more fast-food employees, a tactic other companies such as Disney and Target have used with success.
We took a look at self-reported salaries on both Payscale and Glassdoor and ordered restaurants from highest to lowest hourly pay. For some chains, we only found data from one source.
Keep reading for a look at salaries at 17 popular fast-food chains in the United States.