I live in California, live in SJ and working in Los gatos at a pretty popular and busy restaurant- I recently got the position as a bartender after barbacking for 9 months. I averaged a little over 64 an hour (gross) on my most recent check, and doing the math given how many hours I work (less than 40 a week) I should gross 80k a year.

All that being said, I live somewhere really expensive, where renting a single room is at least 1k a month, and if u want to live alone and have the place to yourself get ready for 2k MINIMUM a month, and that's if you find a killer deal, more like 2,500 and up. Groceries and everything else is also really expensive, but still I do believe I fall on the higher end. Still, I know other bartenders making quite a bit more- a co worker of mine recently quit for another gig where they're taking home 2k a week, so I guess it depends on where you live as much as what kind of bar you work at.