High paying food service jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
The best paid food service occupations in Rhode Island that require no bachelor's degree — a high school diploma, a certificate, or an associate's degree is the typical entry. This is the narrowest cut on the site, so it is also the shortest list: where a field has only two or three such occupations, there is no page at all rather than a page pretending otherwise.
Cost of living: prices in Rhode Island run 2.3% above the national average (2024), so a Rhode Island salary is worth about 0.98× 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 Rhode Island.
Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024
High school diploma or equivalent
$56,680 – $127,080740High school diploma or equivalent
$36,350 – $75,5003,320No formal educational credential
$37,890 – $58,3801,190No formal educational credential
$31,840 – $49,4506,950No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $76,3203,170No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $45,2202,830No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $62,68010,160No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $38,4701,210No formal educational credential
$31,320 – $42,9901,020No formal educational credential
$31,300 – $38,5502,790No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $36,54013,310No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $47,1702,880
Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.
| # | Occupation | MedianRhode Island | 10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent | $79,930 | $56,680 – $127,080 | 740 |
| 2 | First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent | $48,400 | $36,350 – $75,500 | 3,320 |
| 3 | Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential | $46,570 | $37,890 – $58,380 | 1,190 |
| 4 | Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential | $36,510 | $31,840 – $49,450 | 6,950 |
| 5 | BartendersNo formal educational credential | $36,410 | $31,200 – $76,320 | 3,170 |
| 6 | Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential | $35,470 | $31,200 – $45,220 | 2,830 |
| 7 | Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential | $35,420 | $31,200 – $62,680 | 10,160 |
| 8 | Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential | $35,230 | $31,200 – $38,470 | 1,210 |
| 9 | Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential | $34,860 | $31,320 – $42,990 | 1,020 |
| 10 | DishwashersNo formal educational credential | $33,960 | $31,300 – $38,550 | 2,790 |
| 11 | Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential | $31,490 | $31,200 – $36,540 | 13,310 |
| 12 | Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential | $31,200 | $31,200 – $47,170 | 2,880 |
Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Rhode Island. 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 Rhode Island
- High paying jobs in Rhode Island
- High paying jobs in Rhode Island that need no degree
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- Fastest growing jobs in Rhode Island, 2024–34
- Fastest declining jobs in Rhode Island, 2024–34
- Jobs that actually got a raise in Rhode Island
- Jobs that lost the most to inflation in Rhode Island
- Jobs that pay the biggest premium in Rhode Island
Metro areas in Rhode Island
Pay varies more between metros than between states — the spread inside one state is often wider than the gap between two.
By field in Rhode Island
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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 Rhode Island to rank honestly.
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- High paying food service jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying cleaning and grounds jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying sales jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying sales jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying office and admin jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying office and admin jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying construction jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying construction jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying production jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying production jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
- High paying transportation jobs in Rhode Island with no degree
- High paying transportation jobs in Rhode Island with no experience
High paying food service jobs in each state with no degree
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- District of Columbia
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