High paying food service jobs in Delaware

Every food service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Delaware. Read the percentile range, not just the median: the gap between the 10th and 90th inside a single food service job is usually wider than the gap between two different ones, so where you land in a field matters more than which field you pick.

Cost of living: prices in Delaware run 0.2% below the national average (2024), so a Delaware salary is worth about 1.00× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order. To see where a job pays a real premium, use jobs that pay more in Delaware.

Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024

Find food service jobs in Delaware

OccupationMedian, Delaware · Employed

1Chefs and Head Cooks$61,440
High school diploma or equivalent
$49,920 – $84,680590
2First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$48,120
High school diploma or equivalent
$37,610 – $73,0604,030
3Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$44,080
No formal educational credential
$35,870 – $47,5602,680
4Cooks, Restaurant$37,840
No formal educational credential
$31,250 – $46,9405,280
5Waiters and Waitresses$36,880
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $62,0007,580
6Bartenders$36,840
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $60,4202,820
7Food Preparation Workers$35,930
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $43,0702,400
8Dishwashers$35,780
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $39,5201,520
9Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers$31,880
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $38,4501,540
10Cooks, Fast Food$31,840
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $48,870850
11Food Servers, Nonrestaurant$31,430
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $44,7301,010
12Fast Food and Counter Workers$31,300
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $37,53013,310
13Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$31,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $35,3601,680

Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.

#	Occupation	MedianDelaware	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent	$61,440	$49,920 – $84,680	590
2	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$48,120	$37,610 – $73,060	4,030
3	Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential	$44,080	$35,870 – $47,560	2,680
4	Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential	$37,840	$31,250 – $46,940	5,280
5	Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential	$36,880	$31,200 – $62,000	7,580
6	BartendersNo formal educational credential	$36,840	$31,200 – $60,420	2,820
7	Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential	$35,930	$31,200 – $43,070	2,400
8	DishwashersNo formal educational credential	$35,780	$31,200 – $39,520	1,520
9	Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential	$31,880	$31,200 – $38,450	1,540
10	Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential	$31,840	$31,200 – $48,870	850
11	Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential	$31,430	$31,200 – $44,730	1,010
12	Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential	$31,300	$31,200 – $37,530	13,310
13	Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential	$31,200	$31,200 – $35,360	1,680

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Delaware. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.

More for Delaware

Metro areas in Delaware

Pay varies more between metros than between states — the spread inside one state is often wider than the gap between two.

By field in Delaware

Without a degree

The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Delaware to rank honestly.

High paying food service jobs in Delaware

More for Delaware

Metro areas in Delaware

By field in Delaware

Without a degree

High paying food service jobs in each state