Chefs and Head Cooks salary

SOC 35-1011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$62,470

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,440–$78,750

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

200,040

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+7.1%

24,400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$37,900$98,560

10th: $37,900
25th: $48,440
Median: $62,470
75th: $78,750
90th: $98,560

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: 5 years or more
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where chefs and head cooks earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Rhode Island	$79,930	102.3	740	1.15×
2	Hawaii	$77,360	110.0	1,240	1.53×
3	District of Columbia	$76,420	109.9	2,020	2.23×
4	Washington	$76,010	107.0	5,320	1.16×
5	North Dakota	$74,740	89.0	100	0.19×
6	New Jersey	$74,280	108.8	9,100	1.65×
7	Wyoming	$73,170	92.7	240	0.67×
8	South Carolina	$71,860	93.7	2,650	0.89×
9	New York	$70,670	107.9	17,430	1.40×
10	Tennessee	$69,810	91.9	3,820	0.91×
11	Massachusetts	$69,540	105.8	6,000	1.28×
12	Georgia	$66,230	96.3	3,680	0.58×
13	Vermont	$65,440	98.0	610	1.56×
14	Colorado	$65,400	103.1	3,970	1.07×
15	California	$64,500	110.7	31,670	1.35×
16	Missouri	$64,480	90.8	1,750	0.46×
17	Connecticut	$64,310	103.6	3,080	1.41×
18	Pennsylvania	$63,860	97.6	9,170	1.18×
19	Oregon	$63,600	103.4	2,510	0.99×
20	New Hampshire	$63,400	104.2	1,170	1.33×
21	Virginia	$63,270	101.1	3,600	0.68×
22	Minnesota	$62,600	98.6	1,730	0.45×
23	Alabama	$62,400	88.8	1,000	0.37×
24	Nevada	$62,380	100.0	3,940	1.97×
25	New Mexico	$62,250	92.2	770	0.69×
26	Maryland	$61,590	105.0	3,220	0.91×
27	Delaware	$61,440	99.8	590	0.95×
28	Wisconsin	$61,300	94.1	1,860	0.49×
29	North Carolina	$61,130	94.3	4,920	0.77×
30	West Virginia	$61,100	89.5	350	0.38×
31	Nebraska	$60,510	90.1	540	0.41×
32	Michigan	$60,070	96.2	5,360	0.95×
33	Arizona	$59,890	100.7	4,080	0.98×
34	Utah	$59,060	98.9	1,740	0.78×
35	Illinois	$58,830	100.0	8,290	1.06×
36	Oklahoma	$58,540	87.8	1,430	0.65×
37	Kansas	$58,390	90.1	860	0.46×
38	Florida	$58,240	103.4	19,670	1.54×
39	Montana	$57,470	94.6	720	1.09×
40	Maine	$57,010	97.0	1,250	1.52×
41	Texas	$56,080	97.1	13,270	0.73×
42	Mississippi	$54,850	87.0	840	0.56×
43	Ohio	$53,990	92.8	4,000	0.56×
44	Alaska	$52,190	102.4	680	1.61×
45	Indiana	$52,190	93.3	1,940	0.47×
46	Idaho	$52,000	95.5	550	0.50×
47	South Dakota	$48,470	88.6	300	0.51×
48	Kentucky	$48,070	90.2	1,790	0.70×
49	Iowa	$47,990	87.8	1,640	0.82×
50	Arkansas	$46,170	86.9	880	0.53×
51	Louisiana	$45,570	88.2	1,990	0.80×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where chefs and head cooks wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for chefs and head cooks

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Terre Haute, IN	$85,920	87.8	50	0.65×
2	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$84,990	109.4	250	2.63×
3	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$84,430	99.6	470	0.81×
4	Morgantown, WV	$81,330	93.3	70	0.76×
5	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$80,330	111.1	3,740	1.39×
6	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$79,340	101.8	1,070	1.16×
7	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$79,020	110.4	1,280	0.87×
8	Napa, CA	$78,960	112.6	300	3.01×
9	Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ	$75,740	98.9	900	4.15×
10	Vineland, NJ	$75,050	96.0	100	1.29×
11	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$74,940	105.6	140	1.17×
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$74,900	108.9	4,680	1.16×
13	Kingston, NY	$74,710	100.7	140	1.83×
14	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$74,660	100.1	2,370	0.64×
15	Urban Honolulu, HI	$74,380	111.0	740	1.29×
16	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$74,290	95.8	640	0.93×
17	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$74,210	101.0	770	1.53×
18	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$73,750	100.1	100	0.58×
19	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$73,690	103.9	80	1.17×
20	Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC	$73,690	98.0	240	2.27×
21	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$73,570	107.8	460	1.76×
22	Spartanburg, SC	$72,670	91.1	140	0.65×
23	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$72,470	108.3	4,430	1.27×
24	Salinas, CA	$72,440	109.0	360	1.49×
25	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$72,340	109.4	360	1.03×
26	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$72,270	103.7	140	0.86×
27	Santa Fe, NM	$72,020	98.8	100	1.32×
28	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$71,780	112.6	20,010	1.64×
29	Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC	$71,700	93.6	250	1.31×
30	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$71,540	100.3	240	0.74×
31	Gainesville, GA	$70,780	96.8	40	0.28×
32	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$70,420	96.3	1,780	1.26×
33	Bellingham, WA	$70,410	103.3	140	1.15×
34	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$70,210	103.2	480	1.55×
35	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$69,990	113.6	11,430	1.42×
36	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$69,920	100.9	200	1.28×
37	Columbia, SC	$69,820	93.7	280	0.55×
38	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$69,680	93.3	360	0.64×
39	Jackson, TN	$69,280	85.5	60	0.54×
40	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$68,970	115.6	5,340	1.75×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where chefs and head cooks wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$44,080