Cooks, Restaurant salary

SOC 35-2014 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$37,390

per year, nationally

Middle half

$34,010–$44,620

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

1.4M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+14.9%

250,700 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.

$28,700$47,900

10th: $28,700
25th: $34,010
Median: $37,390
75th: $44,620
90th: $47,900

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

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

Where cooks, restaurant 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	$46,800	107.0	35,140	1.09×
2	District of Columbia	$46,130	109.9	7,720	1.21×
3	Massachusetts	$45,600	105.8	29,570	0.90×
4	Hawaii	$45,420	110.0	11,090	1.95×
5	Vermont	$45,390	98.0	2,360	0.86×
6	Maine	$45,290	97.0	5,130	0.88×
7	California	$44,880	110.7	152,250	0.92×
8	New York	$43,680	107.9	71,530	0.81×
9	Oregon	$43,100	103.4	21,550	1.21×
10	Colorado	$41,600	103.1	30,600	1.17×
11	New Hampshire	$40,200	104.2	7,190	1.16×
12	Alaska	$40,140	102.4	2,350	0.80×
13	Connecticut	$39,480	103.6	14,830	0.96×
14	Arizona	$38,670	100.7	30,870	1.05×
15	Nevada	$38,610	100.0	27,250	1.94×
16	Minnesota	$38,590	98.6	26,080	0.98×
17	New Jersey	$38,460	108.8	28,800	0.74×
18	Montana	$38,060	94.6	7,580	1.63×
19	Delaware	$37,840	99.8	5,280	1.20×
20	Maryland	$37,820	105.0	17,690	0.71×
21	Illinois	$37,580	100.0	53,540	0.97×
22	Nebraska	$37,030	90.1	4,750	0.51×
23	Florida	$37,020	103.4	124,040	1.38×
24	Michigan	$36,980	96.2	39,100	0.98×
25	Missouri	$36,940	90.8	25,990	0.98×
26	Wyoming	$36,830	92.7	2,710	1.06×
27	Virginia	$36,750	101.1	40,310	1.08×
28	Pennsylvania	$36,580	97.6	54,100	0.98×
29	Wisconsin	$36,550	94.1	25,410	0.95×
30	Rhode Island	$36,510	102.3	6,950	1.53×
31	Utah	$36,490	98.9	10,520	0.67×
32	North Dakota	$36,470	89.0	4,490	1.15×
33	Idaho	$36,440	95.5	8,130	1.05×
34	Tennessee	$36,420	91.9	28,220	0.95×
35	South Dakota	$36,220	88.6	1,890	0.46×
36	Georgia	$35,940	96.3	46,350	1.05×
37	South Carolina	$35,740	93.7	25,890	1.24×
38	Iowa	$35,670	87.8	12,270	0.87×
39	Ohio	$35,540	92.8	46,910	0.93×
40	North Carolina	$35,400	94.3	50,150	1.12×
41	Indiana	$35,170	93.3	26,960	0.93×
42	Kansas	$35,130	90.1	11,620	0.89×
43	New Mexico	$35,020	92.2	7,810	0.99×
44	Texas	$34,760	97.1	126,620	0.99×
45	Kentucky	$34,640	90.2	13,510	0.74×
46	Alabama	$32,180	88.8	16,260	0.85×
47	Oklahoma	$31,720	87.8	17,050	1.10×
48	Arkansas	$30,180	86.9	11,270	0.95×
49	West Virginia	$29,590	89.5	6,450	1.01×
50	Mississippi	$29,560	87.0	10,770	1.02×
51	Louisiana	$29,050	88.2	14,910	0.85×

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, restaurant wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cooks, restaurant

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	$49,560	109.4	1,770	2.65×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$47,730	111.1	20,850	1.10×
3	Napa, CA	$47,320	112.6	1,270	1.80×
4	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$47,170	110.4	8,900	0.86×
5	Barnstable Town, MA	$46,930	98.4	1,760	2.07×
6	Portland-South Portland, ME	$46,560	101.9	2,730	1.04×
7	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$46,460	105.6	1,090	1.28×
8	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$46,450	102.4	590	1.23×
9	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$46,440	111.9	15,670	1.12×
10	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$46,030	115.6	20,540	0.95×
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$45,830	108.3	22,900	0.93×
12	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$45,720	107.8	2,340	1.26×
13	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$45,390	100.9	950	0.87×
14	Bellingham, WA	$45,370	103.3	1,090	1.32×
15	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$45,280	100.1	1,150	0.98×
16	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$45,200	105.4	13,020	1.19×
17	Longview-Kelso, WA	$44,980	97.5	310	0.82×
18	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$44,960	103.7	1,090	0.93×
19	Salinas, CA	$44,930	109.0	1,910	1.13×
20	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$44,680	100.2	540	0.91×
21	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$44,560	109.9	1,020	1.15×
22	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$44,550	103.9	780	1.69×
23	Bend, OR	$44,540	103.6	1,530	1.56×
24	Lewiston-Auburn, ME	$44,510	94.7	250	0.58×
25	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$44,460	113.6	54,320	0.96×
26	Yakima, WA	$44,390	95.5	680	0.77×
27	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$44,370	105.8	15,410	1.06×
28	Worcester, MA	$44,250	102.5	2,490	0.79×
29	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$44,230	100.3	2,490	1.07×
30	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$44,230	106.7	9,240	0.94×
31	Vallejo, CA	$44,100	108.5	1,020	0.78×
32	Walla Walla, WA	$44,050	98.5	260	1.09×
33	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$44,000	109.4	2,200	0.90×
34	Pittsfield, MA	$43,970	95.1	630	1.23×
35	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$43,740	112.6	69,250	0.80×
36	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$43,400	106.9	3,970	1.08×
37	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$43,340	108.8	2,300	1.26×
38	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$43,220	108.6	1,640	1.48×
39	Kingston, NY	$43,150	100.7	750	1.40×
40	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$42,920	108.9	29,670	1.04×

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, restaurant wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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