Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria salary

SOC 35-2012 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$37,450

per year, nationally

Middle half

$32,440–$44,800

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

441,050

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.0%

69,700 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.

$28,480$49,670

10th: $28,480
25th: $32,440
Median: $37,450
75th: $44,800
90th: $49,670

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, institution and cafeteria 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	Washington	$49,670	107.0	9,780	0.97×
2	Alaska	$48,580	102.4	1,430	1.55×
3	Massachusetts	$47,790	105.8	7,430	0.72×
4	Hawaii	$47,770	110.0	1,570	0.88×
5	Rhode Island	$46,570	102.3	1,190	0.84×
6	California	$46,390	110.7	31,660	0.61×
7	Vermont	$46,370	98.0	1,330	1.55×
8	Connecticut	$46,120	103.6	4,500	0.94×
9	New York	$45,880	107.9	17,670	0.64×
10	District of Columbia	$45,450	109.9	1,500	0.75×
11	New Hampshire	$45,370	104.2	1,720	0.89×
12	New Jersey	$44,520	108.8	7,490	0.62×
13	Oregon	$44,520	103.4	7,150	1.28×
14	Delaware	$44,080	99.8	2,680	1.95×
15	Maine	$43,490	97.0	1,790	0.98×
16	Minnesota	$43,460	98.6	7,890	0.94×
17	Colorado	$42,500	103.1	9,440	1.16×
18	Maryland	$41,380	105.0	3,370	0.43×
19	Arizona	$39,660	100.7	7,170	0.78×
20	North Dakota	$39,490	89.0	1,820	1.49×
21	Nevada	$39,430	100.0	1,650	0.38×
22	Wisconsin	$38,650	94.1	9,890	1.19×
23	Utah	$38,200	98.9	5,610	1.14×
24	Virginia	$37,890	101.1	11,170	0.96×
25	Illinois	$37,440	100.0	22,840	1.32×
26	Montana	$37,150	94.6	2,290	1.58×
27	Wyoming	$36,940	92.7	1,570	1.97×
28	Michigan	$36,870	96.2	13,500	1.08×
29	South Dakota	$36,730	88.6	2,120	1.63×
30	Ohio	$36,720	92.8	23,440	1.49×
31	Pennsylvania	$36,540	97.6	24,490	1.42×
32	New Mexico	$36,470	92.2	3,160	1.28×
33	Nebraska	$36,390	90.1	4,410	1.52×
34	Florida	$36,250	103.4	25,100	0.89×
35	North Carolina	$36,140	94.3	11,170	0.80×
36	Indiana	$35,980	93.3	11,130	1.23×
37	Iowa	$35,810	87.8	8,860	2.00×
38	Idaho	$35,600	95.5	3,650	1.50×
39	Tennessee	$35,570	91.9	10,680	1.15×
40	Texas	$35,360	97.1	24,740	0.62×
41	Georgia	$35,090	96.3	8,220	0.59×
42	South Carolina	$34,960	93.7	7,850	1.20×
43	Missouri	$34,900	90.8	13,130	1.58×
44	Kansas	$31,950	90.1	7,570	1.86×
45	Kentucky	$31,550	90.2	11,540	2.03×
46	Arkansas	$30,240	86.9	6,530	1.77×
47	West Virginia	$29,740	89.5	4,420	2.22×
48	Oklahoma	$29,270	87.8	10,790	2.23×
49	Mississippi	$27,390	87.0	6,420	1.95×
50	Alabama	$27,120	88.8	8,780	1.46×
51	Louisiana	$25,490	88.2	5,740	1.05×

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, institution and cafeteria wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cooks, institution and cafeteria

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	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$55,400	109.4	250	1.18×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$51,880	110.4	2,640	0.82×
3	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$51,620	102.4	240	1.61×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$51,530	111.1	5,380	0.91×
5	Barnstable Town, MA	$49,720	98.4	170	0.62×
6	Fairbanks-College, AK	$49,340	103.2	170	1.62×
7	Bellingham, WA	$49,320	103.3	250	0.98×
8	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$49,280	105.6	240	0.91×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$49,140	115.6	4,280	0.64×
10	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$48,820	103.7	290	0.79×
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$48,530	108.3	5,310	0.69×
12	Anchorage, AK	$48,290	105.4	530	1.05×
13	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$48,210	108.8	430	0.75×
14	Napa, CA	$48,060	112.6	130	0.57×
15	Boulder, CO	$48,020	105.2	820	1.49×
16	Pittsfield, MA	$47,740	95.1	170	1.06×
17	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$47,390	100.9	490	1.44×
18	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$47,380	106.9	1,100	0.96×
19	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$47,310	101.6	80	0.61×
20	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$47,260	107.8	420	0.72×
21	Vallejo, CA	$47,130	108.5	270	0.67×
22	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$47,100	111.9	3,070	0.70×
23	Portland-South Portland, ME	$47,000	101.9	600	0.73×
24	Ithaca, NY	$46,870	103.3	190	1.39×
25	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$46,870	112.6	15,270	0.57×
26	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$46,850	109.9	250	0.88×
27	Salinas, CA	$46,820	109.0	350	0.65×
28	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$46,820	100.1	310	0.85×
29	Urban Honolulu, HI	$46,780	111.0	1,080	0.85×
30	Worcester, MA	$46,780	102.5	690	0.69×
31	Yakima, WA	$46,730	95.5	430	1.58×
32	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$46,690	103.9	140	0.99×
33	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$46,650	102.7	1,460	0.86×
34	Springfield, MA	$46,440	96.1	450	0.79×
35	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$46,350	101.8	1,630	0.81×
36	Walla Walla, WA	$46,170	98.5	90	1.23×
37	New Haven, CT	$46,000	104.6	790	0.98×
38	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$45,800	105.4	3,920	1.14×
39	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$45,740	109.4	650	0.85×
40	Longview-Kelso, WA	$45,640	97.5	120	1.03×

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, institution and cafeteria wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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