High paying food service jobs in Kansas City, MO-KS

Every food service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Kansas City, MO-KS. 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 Kansas City, MO-KS run 7.5% below the national average (2024), so a Kansas City, MO-KS salary is worth about 1.08× 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

Find food service jobs in Kansas City, MO-KS

OccupationMedian, Kansas City, MO-KS · Employed

1Chefs and Head Cooks$64,010
High school diploma or equivalent
$39,650 – $93,930890
2First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$39,210
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,460 – $63,4407,650
3Cooks, Restaurant$37,370
No formal educational credential
$30,560 – $46,5509,940
4Waiters and Waitresses$36,080
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $63,26016,540
5Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$36,080
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $46,2404,470
6Dishwashers$34,800
No formal educational credential
$27,470 – $38,8602,460
7Food Servers, Nonrestaurant$33,620
No formal educational credential
$28,690 – $38,3702,260
8Food Preparation Workers$32,230
No formal educational credential
$28,180 – $43,2405,080
9Bartenders$30,300
No formal educational credential
$25,240 – $62,1104,890
10Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers$30,200
No formal educational credential
$20,060 – $38,8303,300
11Cooks, Fast Food$30,170
No formal educational credential
$29,180 – $34,80013,850
12Cooks, Short Order$29,810
No formal educational credential
$26,530 – $38,210480
13Fast Food and Counter Workers$29,560
No formal educational credential
$23,550 – $35,84020,120
14Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$29,280
No formal educational credential
$23,290 – $40,6204,200

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

#	Occupation	MedianKansas City, MO-KS	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent	$64,010	$39,650 – $93,930	890
2	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$39,210	$31,460 – $63,440	7,650
3	Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential	$37,370	$30,560 – $46,550	9,940
4	Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential	$36,080	$28,600 – $63,260	16,540
5	Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential	$36,080	$28,600 – $46,240	4,470
6	DishwashersNo formal educational credential	$34,800	$27,470 – $38,860	2,460
7	Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential	$33,620	$28,690 – $38,370	2,260
8	Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential	$32,230	$28,180 – $43,240	5,080
9	BartendersNo formal educational credential	$30,300	$25,240 – $62,110	4,890
10	Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential	$30,200	$20,060 – $38,830	3,300
11	Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential	$30,170	$29,180 – $34,800	13,850
12	Cooks, Short OrderNo formal educational credential	$29,810	$26,530 – $38,210	480
13	Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential	$29,560	$23,550 – $35,840	20,120
14	Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential	$29,280	$23,290 – $40,620	4,200

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Kansas City, MO-KS. 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 Kansas City, MO-KS

Other metro areas in MO

By field in Kansas City, MO-KS

Without a degree

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

High paying food service jobs in Kansas City, MO-KS

More for Kansas City, MO-KS

Other metro areas in MO

By field in Kansas City, MO-KS

Without a degree

High paying food service jobs in each state