High paying food service jobs in Rockford, IL

Every food service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Rockford, IL. 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 Rockford, IL run 7.8% below the national average (2024), so a Rockford, IL salary is worth about 1.09× 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 Rockford, IL

OccupationMedian, Rockford, IL · Employed

1Chefs and Head Cooks$47,740
High school diploma or equivalent
$40,980 – $67,270130
2First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$37,750
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,200 – $59,2901,130
3Cooks, Restaurant$36,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $44,3201,130
4Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$34,580
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $45,050690
5Cooks, Short Order$34,150
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $41,60070
6Cooks, Fast Food$33,380
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $36,150310
7Food Preparation Workers$32,530
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $39,890720
8Food Servers, Nonrestaurant$31,670
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $39,250470
9Fast Food and Counter Workers$31,640
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $35,3103,630
10Dishwashers$31,570
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $35,430380
11Waiters and Waitresses$31,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $46,5401,710
12Bartenders$31,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $40,5201,220
13Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers$31,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $36,010340
14Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$31,200
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $37,750340

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

#	Occupation	MedianRockford, IL	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent	$47,740	$40,980 – $67,270	130
2	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$37,750	$31,200 – $59,290	1,130
3	Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential	$36,200	$31,200 – $44,320	1,130
4	Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential	$34,580	$31,200 – $45,050	690
5	Cooks, Short OrderNo formal educational credential	$34,150	$31,200 – $41,600	70
6	Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential	$33,380	$31,200 – $36,150	310
7	Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential	$32,530	$31,200 – $39,890	720
8	Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential	$31,670	$31,200 – $39,250	470
9	Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential	$31,640	$31,200 – $35,310	3,630
10	DishwashersNo formal educational credential	$31,570	$31,200 – $35,430	380
11	Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential	$31,200	$31,200 – $46,540	1,710
12	BartendersNo formal educational credential	$31,200	$31,200 – $40,520	1,220
13	Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential	$31,200	$31,200 – $36,010	340
14	Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential	$31,200	$31,200 – $37,750	340

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

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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 Rockford, IL to rank honestly.

High paying food service jobs in Rockford, IL

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