Cooks, Short Order salary

SOC 35-2015 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$35,880

per year, nationally

Middle half

$30,610–$42,450

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

138,650

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-5.6%

20,600 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.

$23,440$46,460

10th: $23,440
25th: $30,610
Median: $35,880
75th: $42,450
90th: $46,460

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, short order 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	Arizona	$46,630	100.7	1,880	0.65×
2	Rhode Island	$46,250	102.3	—	—
3	Massachusetts	$44,290	105.8	4,760	1.47×
4	Hawaii	$43,110	110.0	460	0.83×
5	California	$42,930	110.7	30,740	1.89×
6	Washington	$42,760	107.0	1,700	0.54×
7	Colorado	$42,450	103.1	1,900	0.74×
8	Connecticut	$42,450	103.6	—	—
9	District of Columbia	$42,450	109.9	1,910	3.05×
10	New Jersey	$40,720	108.8	850	0.22×
11	Idaho	$40,090	95.5	120	0.15×
12	Vermont	$38,830	98.0	670	2.46×
13	Oregon	$38,550	103.4	1,780	1.02×
14	Delaware	$38,500	99.8	—	—
15	Missouri	$38,490	90.8	—	—
16	Utah	$38,010	98.9	320	0.21×
17	Alaska	$37,780	102.4	330	1.13×
18	Nevada	$37,780	100.0	790	0.57×
19	Illinois	$37,440	100.0	2,630	0.48×
20	New Mexico	$37,150	92.2	750	0.97×
21	Maryland	$36,800	105.0	3,250	1.32×
22	New York	$35,550	107.9	18,300	2.12×
23	Maine	$35,360	97.0	1,120	1.95×
24	Oklahoma	$35,130	87.8	760	0.50×
25	Michigan	$34,510	96.2	2,560	0.65×
26	Florida	$34,240	103.4	5,050	0.57×
27	Iowa	$34,090	87.8	1,160	0.83×
28	Montana	$33,240	94.6	—	—
29	South Dakota	$32,380	88.6	2,000	4.91×
30	New Hampshire	$32,330	104.2	2,320	3.81×
31	Minnesota	$32,150	98.6	870	0.33×
32	Kentucky	$31,840	90.2	650	0.36×
33	North Carolina	$31,290	94.3	3,170	0.72×
34	Virginia	$31,200	101.1	3,350	0.91×
35	Nebraska	$30,530	90.1	1,810	1.98×
36	Arkansas	$30,510	86.9	160	0.14×
37	Tennessee	$30,210	91.9	2,510	0.86×
38	South Carolina	$29,640	93.7	900	0.44×
39	Ohio	$29,290	92.8	6,000	1.21×
40	Mississippi	$28,180	87.0	1,890	1.83×
41	Wisconsin	$28,130	94.1	2,270	0.86×
42	West Virginia	$27,440	89.5	620	0.99×
43	Kansas	$27,400	90.1	640	0.50×
44	Georgia	$26,870	96.3	3,870	0.89×
45	Louisiana	$26,260	88.2	1,990	1.15×
46	Texas	$25,320	97.1	7,540	0.60×
47	Alabama	$22,330	88.8	—	—
48	Indiana	$21,940	93.3	2,940	1.03×
49	Pennsylvania	$19,910	97.6	3,510	0.65×

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, short order wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cooks, short order

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	Corvallis, OR	$54,020	104.0	50	1.49×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$50,870	111.1	830	0.45×
3	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$50,180	103.3	—	—
4	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$48,140	109.4	110	1.70×
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$46,450	107.8	700	3.85×
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$45,990	110.4	1,660	1.64×
7	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$45,790	115.6	4,430	2.09×
8	Barnstable Town, MA	$45,690	98.4	190	2.24×
9	Vallejo, CA	$45,360	108.5	240	1.84×
10	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$44,780	99.8	—	—
11	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$44,200	105.8	1,010	0.70×
12	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$44,050	101.8	520	0.81×
13	Napa, CA	$43,930	112.6	150	2.13×
14	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$43,790	100.2	70	1.27×
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$43,680	113.6	12,410	2.22×
16	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$42,990	110.5	—	—
17	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$42,450	106.9	—	—
18	Yuba City, CA	$42,400	104.2	80	1.87×
19	Reno, NV	$41,530	101.0	—	—
20	Urban Honolulu, HI	$40,860	111.0	290	0.72×
21	Worcester, MA	$40,780	102.5	340	1.10×
22	Salinas, CA	$40,550	109.0	260	1.59×
23	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$39,970	100.4	120	1.09×
24	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$39,650	108.9	3,850	1.38×
25	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$39,600	108.3	4,460	1.85×
26	Ogden, UT	$39,550	100.3	40	0.15×
27	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$39,300	101.6	60	1.39×
28	Springfield, MA	$39,200	96.1	160	0.87×
29	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$39,140	109.9	210	2.33×
30	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$39,040	92.9	130	0.51×
31	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$39,040	100.9	170	0.23×
32	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$38,890	100.9	200	1.83×
33	Albuquerque, NM	$38,860	95.5	350	0.98×
34	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$38,810	105.4	1,030	0.96×
35	St. Louis, MO-IL	$38,490	95.1	910	0.76×
36	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$38,490	100.9	330	1.09×
37	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$38,480	106.7	1,800	1.87×
38	Yakima, WA	$38,430	95.5	40	0.50×
39	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$38,340	108.8	360	2.02×
40	Fresno, CA	$38,280	102.2	930	2.19×

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, short order wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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