High paying food service jobs in Missouri

Every food service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Missouri. 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 Missouri run 9.2% below the national average (2024), so a Missouri salary is worth about 1.10× 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 Missouri.

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

Find food service jobs in Missouri

OccupationMedian, Missouri · Employed

1Chefs and Head Cooks$64,480
High school diploma or equivalent
$39,650 – $91,5001,750
2First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$37,400
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,010 – $60,98021,650
3Cooks, Restaurant$36,940
No formal educational credential
$28,890 – $46,97025,990
4Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$34,900
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $43,70013,130
5Dishwashers$32,150
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $38,5807,200
6Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers$31,850
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $39,15011,590
7Food Servers, Nonrestaurant$31,840
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $38,3707,490
8Food Preparation Workers$31,510
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $44,44013,650
9Fast Food and Counter Workers$30,390
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $36,83029,360
10Bartenders$30,090
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $54,90014,410
11Cooks, Fast Food$29,890
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $35,29055,780
12Waiters and Waitresses$29,400
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $61,44041,640
13Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$29,130
No formal educational credential
$28,600 – $37,4408,510

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

#	Occupation	MedianMissouri	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent	$64,480	$39,650 – $91,500	1,750
2	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$37,400	$31,010 – $60,980	21,650
3	Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential	$36,940	$28,890 – $46,970	25,990
4	Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential	$34,900	$28,600 – $43,700	13,130
5	DishwashersNo formal educational credential	$32,150	$28,600 – $38,580	7,200
6	Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential	$31,850	$28,600 – $39,150	11,590
7	Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential	$31,840	$28,600 – $38,370	7,490
8	Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential	$31,510	$28,600 – $44,440	13,650
9	Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential	$30,390	$28,600 – $36,830	29,360
10	BartendersNo formal educational credential	$30,090	$28,600 – $54,900	14,410
11	Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential	$29,890	$28,600 – $35,290	55,780
12	Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential	$29,400	$28,600 – $61,440	41,640
13	Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential	$29,130	$28,600 – $37,440	8,510

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Missouri. 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 Missouri

Metro areas in Missouri

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

By field in Missouri

Without a degree

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

High paying food service jobs in Missouri

More for Missouri

Metro areas in Missouri

By field in Missouri

Without a degree

High paying food service jobs in each state