Cooks, All Other salary

SOC 35-2019 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$37,690

per year, nationally

Middle half

$32,150–$43,680

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

19,350

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.5%

3,700 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.

$27,040$51,140

10th: $27,040
25th: $32,150
Median: $37,690
75th: $43,680
90th: $51,140

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
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, all other 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	Massachusetts	$69,570	105.8	—	—
2	Washington	$52,510	107.0	140	0.32×
3	Nevada	$51,220	100.0	320	1.65×
4	New Jersey	$46,080	108.8	280	0.52×
5	Indiana	$44,290	93.3	30	0.09×
6	North Dakota	$44,190	89.0	60	1.10×
7	Missouri	$43,990	90.8	70	0.19×
8	Colorado	$43,490	103.1	100	0.27×
9	New York	$43,000	107.9	1,090	0.91×
10	Georgia	$42,960	96.3	340	0.57×
11	California	$42,860	110.7	3,990	1.76×
12	Montana	$42,640	94.6	200	3.18×
13	Oregon	$42,020	103.4	450	1.83×
14	Arizona	$41,740	100.7	550	1.36×
15	Vermont	$41,250	98.0	160	4.28×
16	Hawaii	$39,870	110.0	100	1.27×
17	Florida	$39,520	103.4	710	0.57×
18	Connecticut	$37,190	103.6	220	1.02×
19	Michigan	$37,110	96.2	300	0.55×
20	Minnesota	$36,850	98.6	80	0.22×
21	Tennessee	$36,440	91.9	2,060	5.04×
22	Pennsylvania	$36,220	97.6	660	0.88×
23	Illinois	$35,940	100.0	—	—
24	Virginia	$35,810	101.1	480	0.93×
25	Ohio	$35,360	92.8	180	0.27×
26	Wisconsin	$33,760	94.1	50	0.14×
27	Mississippi	$33,410	87.0	—	—
28	Texas	$32,150	97.1	4,650	2.65×
29	Maryland	$32,150	105.0	610	1.77×
30	North Carolina	$31,120	94.3	150	0.25×
31	Arkansas	$30,780	86.9	90	0.53×
32	Louisiana	$28,930	88.2	430	1.79×
33	Iowa	$26,060	87.8	210	1.08×

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, all other wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cooks, all other

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	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$57,320	100.9	80	5.28×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$53,910	111.1	80	0.32×
3	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$51,220	100.2	290	2.06×
4	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$49,780	105.8	40	0.21×
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$47,840	107.8	180	7.03×
6	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$46,960	103.3	400	1.37×
7	Syracuse, NY	$45,970	95.7	30	0.89×
8	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$44,740	110.4	—	—
9	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$44,340	105.4	300	1.97×
10	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$43,680	108.6	50	3.31×
11	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$42,960	100.1	—	—
12	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$42,890	114.2	300	0.86×
13	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$42,860	115.6	1,120	3.79×
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$42,630	112.6	830	0.70×
15	Jacksonville, FL	$41,820	99.5	40	0.39×
16	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$40,270	100.9	80	0.44×
17	Midland, TX	$40,040	95.8	100	6.39×
18	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$39,960	104.5	100	0.57×
19	Urban Honolulu, HI	$39,870	111.0	70	1.28×
20	New Haven, CT	$39,670	104.6	50	1.34×
21	Salinas, CA	$39,640	109.0	70	2.96×
22	Ann Arbor, MI	$39,540	100.9	40	1.37×
23	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$39,290	101.6	30	1.62×
24	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$38,980	106.7	190	1.42×
25	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$38,950	92.2	—	—
26	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$38,940	109.4	40	1.25×
27	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$38,870	111.9	290	1.52×
28	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$38,850	102.6	280	0.77×
29	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$38,850	113.6	1,040	1.33×
30	Tucson, AZ	$38,800	96.9	60	1.26×
31	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$38,580	95.8	100	1.57×
32	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$38,210	104.8	40	0.15×
33	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$37,300	100.0	40	0.83×
34	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$37,040	106.4	—	—
35	Lancaster, PA	$36,390	98.3	40	1.26×
36	Chattanooga, TN-GA	$35,990	91.5	110	3.42×
37	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$35,940	103.6	—	—
38	Richmond, VA	$35,540	97.9	50	0.60×
39	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$35,500	103.1	1,810	3.58×
40	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$35,250	101.4	90	0.50×

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, all other wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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