High paying food service jobs in Alabama with no experience
The best paid food service occupations in Alabama that require neither a degree nor prior experience in a related job. 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 Alabama run 11.2% below the national average (2024), so a Alabama salary is worth about 1.13× 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 Alabama.
Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024
No formal educational credential
$23,080 – $35,7702,920No formal educational credential
$21,810 – $35,8403,540No formal educational credential
$17,260 – $55,5006,560No formal educational credential
$20,820 – $37,58017,680No formal educational credential
$22,640 – $34,17026,740No formal educational credential
$20,040 – $37,9608,780No formal educational credential
$16,550 – $36,09028,760No formal educational credential
$21,230 – $34,4005,400No formal educational credential
$21,080 – $32,74041,460No formal educational credential
$16,650 – $34,3203,420
Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.
| # | Occupation | MedianAlabama | 10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential | $29,000 | $23,080 – $35,770 | 2,920 |
| 2 | DishwashersNo formal educational credential | $28,930 | $21,810 – $35,840 | 3,540 |
| 3 | BartendersNo formal educational credential | $27,980 | $17,260 – $55,500 | 6,560 |
| 4 | Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential | $27,930 | $20,820 – $37,580 | 17,680 |
| 5 | Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential | $27,870 | $22,640 – $34,170 | 26,740 |
| 6 | Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential | $27,120 | $20,040 – $37,960 | 8,780 |
| 7 | Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential | $26,840 | $16,550 – $36,090 | 28,760 |
| 8 | Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential | $26,130 | $21,230 – $34,400 | 5,400 |
| 9 | Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential | $23,700 | $21,080 – $32,740 | 41,460 |
| 10 | Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential | $22,470 | $16,650 – $34,320 | 3,420 |
Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Alabama. 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 Alabama
- High paying jobs in Alabama
- High paying jobs in Alabama that need no degree
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- Fastest growing jobs in Alabama, 2024–34
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- Jobs that actually got a raise in Alabama
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- Jobs that pay the biggest premium in Alabama
Metro areas in Alabama
Pay varies more between metros than between states — the spread inside one state is often wider than the gap between two.
By field in Alabama
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- High paying food service jobs in Alabama
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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 Alabama to rank honestly.
- High paying engineering and architecture jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying engineering and architecture jobs in Alabama with no experience
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- High paying healthcare support jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying security and protective service jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying food service jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying cleaning and grounds jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying sales jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying sales jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying office and admin jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying office and admin jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying construction jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying construction jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying production jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying production jobs in Alabama with no experience
- High paying transportation jobs in Alabama with no degree
- High paying transportation jobs in Alabama with no experience
High paying food service jobs in each state with no experience
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