High paying food service jobs in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
Every food service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI. 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 Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI run 4.5% below the national average (2024), so a Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI salary is worth about 1.05× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order.
Local wage estimates are suppressed more often than state ones — BLS withholds any figure too few local employers report — so an occupation missing here simply has no published local estimate.
Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024
High school diploma or equivalent
$46,180 – $93,730610No formal educational credential
$27,140 – $73,5908,080No formal educational credential
$27,380 – $79,3602,730No formal educational credential
$30,430 – $45,6901,790No formal educational credential
$30,110 – $45,2904,850High school diploma or equivalent
$29,210 – $60,5404,290No formal educational credential
$28,950 – $36,8401,160No formal educational credential
$26,530 – $36,6501,450No formal educational credential
$26,590 – $41,1301,970No formal educational credential
$25,960 – $45,2601,670No formal educational credential
$25,960 – $36,0401,740No formal educational credential
$25,960 – $36,00013,190No formal educational credential
$25,960 – $37,8102,070
Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.
| # | Occupation | MedianGrand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI | 10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent | $61,890 | $46,180 – $93,730 | 610 |
| 2 | Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential | $42,930 | $27,140 – $73,590 | 8,080 |
| 3 | BartendersNo formal educational credential | $38,430 | $27,380 – $79,360 | 2,730 |
| 4 | Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential | $37,800 | $30,430 – $45,690 | 1,790 |
| 5 | Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential | $37,360 | $30,110 – $45,290 | 4,850 |
| 6 | First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent | $37,240 | $29,210 – $60,540 | 4,290 |
| 7 | Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential | $32,770 | $28,950 – $36,840 | 1,160 |
| 8 | DishwashersNo formal educational credential | $31,940 | $26,530 – $36,650 | 1,450 |
| 9 | Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential | $31,920 | $26,590 – $41,130 | 1,970 |
| 10 | Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential | $30,440 | $25,960 – $45,260 | 1,670 |
| 11 | Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential | $28,980 | $25,960 – $36,040 | 1,740 |
| 12 | Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential | $28,240 | $25,960 – $36,000 | 13,190 |
| 13 | Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential | $28,180 | $25,960 – $37,810 | 2,070 |
Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI. 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 Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
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By field in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
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Without a degree
The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI to rank honestly.
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- High paying transportation jobs in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI with no experience
High paying food service jobs in each state
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