Cooks, Fast Food salary

SOC 35-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$30,890

per year, nationally

Middle half

$27,260–$37,260

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

641,070

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-13.5%

82,100 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.

$22,580$42,910

10th: $22,580
25th: $27,260
Median: $30,890
75th: $37,260
90th: $42,910

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

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

Where cooks, fast food 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	Hawaii	$48,120	110.0	—	—
2	District of Columbia	$44,670	109.9	2,760	0.96×
3	California	$42,050	110.7	124,440	1.66×
4	Washington	$39,120	107.0	9,020	0.62×
5	New Hampshire	$38,590	104.2	1,330	0.47×
6	Vermont	$38,230	98.0	640	0.51×
7	Oregon	$37,880	103.4	4,300	0.53×
8	Massachusetts	$37,870	105.8	—	—
9	Colorado	$36,900	103.1	9,220	0.78×
10	Maine	$36,350	97.0	1,470	0.56×
11	New York	$35,770	107.9	11,710	0.29×
12	Rhode Island	$35,230	102.3	1,210	0.59×
13	Connecticut	$34,980	103.6	3,630	0.52×
14	Illinois	$34,960	100.0	13,430	0.53×
15	Minnesota	$34,120	98.6	5,190	0.43×
16	Alaska	$33,960	102.4	2,250	1.68×
17	Nevada	$33,840	100.0	5,890	0.92×
18	Maryland	$33,320	105.0	10,960	0.96×
19	Arizona	$32,660	100.7	11,210	0.84×
20	New Jersey	$32,220	108.8	3,440	0.19×
21	Delaware	$31,840	99.8	850	0.43×
22	Utah	$31,800	98.9	4,400	0.61×
23	Idaho	$31,070	95.5	1,610	0.45×
24	South Dakota	$30,950	88.6	1,720	0.91×
25	Nebraska	$30,430	90.1	2,900	0.69×
26	North Dakota	$30,220	89.0	580	0.32×
27	New Mexico	$30,190	92.2	1,800	0.50×
28	Virginia	$29,950	101.1	12,520	0.74×
29	Florida	$29,900	103.4	22,600	0.55×
30	Missouri	$29,890	90.8	55,780	4.61×
31	Indiana	$29,870	93.3	6,830	0.52×
32	Michigan	$29,460	96.2	14,340	0.79×
33	Wyoming	$28,950	92.7	890	0.77×
34	Wisconsin	$28,920	94.1	6,900	0.57×
35	Pennsylvania	$28,810	97.6	9,240	0.37×
36	Kansas	$28,640	90.1	1,610	0.27×
37	Iowa	$28,510	87.8	8,290	1.29×
38	Tennessee	$28,330	91.9	14,020	1.04×
39	Texas	$28,280	97.1	36,240	0.62×
40	Alabama	$27,870	88.8	26,740	3.07×
41	Oklahoma	$27,720	87.8	8,860	1.26×
42	Arkansas	$27,710	86.9	7,860	1.46×
43	South Carolina	$27,420	93.7	9,110	0.96×
44	North Carolina	$27,190	94.3	81,980	4.02×
45	Georgia	$26,940	96.3	12,940	0.64×
46	Ohio	$26,870	92.8	12,310	0.54×
47	Montana	$26,770	94.6	820	0.39×
48	Louisiana	$24,960	88.2	3,000	0.38×
49	Kentucky	$23,500	90.2	21,750	2.64×
50	West Virginia	$23,120	89.5	16,490	5.70×
51	Mississippi	$22,670	87.0	11,170	2.33×

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 cooks, fast food wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cooks, fast food

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	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$47,220	110.4	4,790	1.02×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$46,670	115.6	10,160	1.04×
3	Napa, CA	$45,300	112.6	370	1.15×
4	Vallejo, CA	$44,450	108.5	1,150	1.94×
5	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$44,030	111.1	5,190	0.60×
6	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$43,840	107.8	1,050	1.24×
7	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$43,630	109.9	710	1.74×
8	Salinas, CA	$43,120	109.0	1,100	1.42×
9	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$42,700	108.8	1,430	1.73×
10	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$42,530	110.5	2,520	1.89×
11	Modesto, CA	$42,510	104.1	1,620	2.02×
12	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$42,480	106.4	16,910	2.39×
13	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$42,450	111.9	10,630	1.68×
14	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$42,390	108.6	850	1.70×
15	Yuba City, CA	$42,320	104.2	390	1.86×
16	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$42,210	106.7	8,020	1.80×
17	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$41,600	105.1	2,260	1.90×
18	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$41,600	108.3	—	—
19	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$41,480	100.9	2,450	1.76×
20	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$41,280	101.6	450	2.23×
21	Merced, CA	$40,430	98.3	660	2.00×
22	Chico, CA	$40,340	101.2	580	1.81×
23	El Centro, CA	$40,230	95.2	330	1.23×
24	Redding, CA	$39,920	100.7	470	1.60×
25	Visalia, CA	$39,750	99.8	1,410	2.00×
26	Fresno, CA	$39,620	102.2	3,910	1.99×
27	Barnstable Town, MA	$39,340	98.4	—	—
28	Missoula, MT	$39,080	96.4	130	0.46×
29	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$38,690	100.9	360	0.72×
30	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$38,580	105.4	2,520	0.51×
31	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$38,560	98.1	4,540	0.85×
32	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$38,550	105.7	430	0.52×
33	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$38,530	105.8	4,220	0.64×
34	Bellingham, WA	$38,480	103.3	230	0.60×
35	Carson City, NV	$38,210	98.1	100	0.73×
36	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$38,000	113.6	48,440	1.87×
37	Santa Fe, NM	$38,000	98.8	140	0.55×
38	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$37,910	105.6	300	0.78×
39	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$37,850	102.4	170	0.79×
40	Kingston, NY	$37,150	100.7	40	0.15×

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 cooks, fast food wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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