Waiters and Waitresses salary

SOC 35-3031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$35,230

per year, nationally

Middle half

$27,750–$47,110

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

2.3M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-0.7%

456,700 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.

$18,100$64,720

10th: $18,100
25th: $27,750
Median: $35,230
75th: $47,110
90th: $64,720

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 waiters and waitresses 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	$62,390	110.0	14,090	1.54×
2	Vermont	$59,140	98.0	4,040	0.91×
3	Washington	$56,130	107.0	45,400	0.88×
4	Oregon	$48,410	103.4	23,040	0.80×
5	District of Columbia	$47,850	109.9	11,530	1.12×
6	New York	$47,020	107.9	142,940	1.01×
7	New Jersey	$44,960	108.8	55,800	0.89×
8	Colorado	$44,860	103.1	40,680	0.97×
9	Virginia	$44,760	101.1	59,370	0.99×
10	Arizona	$43,950	100.7	55,950	1.18×
11	Maine	$43,370	97.0	9,090	0.97×
12	Massachusetts	$38,460	105.8	54,670	1.03×
13	New Hampshire	$38,430	104.2	10,030	1.01×
14	Connecticut	$37,770	103.6	22,370	0.90×
15	Michigan	$37,760	96.2	65,090	1.01×
16	New Mexico	$36,920	92.2	12,740	1.00×
17	Delaware	$36,880	99.8	7,580	1.07×
18	Maryland	$36,750	105.0	38,120	0.94×
19	Ohio	$36,700	92.8	77,250	0.95×
20	Florida	$36,150	103.4	207,180	1.43×
21	Kansas	$36,120	90.1	19,480	0.93×
22	California	$36,080	110.7	229,970	0.86×
23	Rhode Island	$35,420	102.3	10,160	1.39×
24	West Virginia	$35,380	89.5	8,600	0.84×
25	Pennsylvania	$34,690	97.6	82,300	0.93×
26	Nebraska	$33,770	90.1	13,310	0.89×
27	North Carolina	$32,150	94.3	71,940	1.00×
28	Illinois	$31,200	100.0	72,900	0.82×
29	Utah	$31,150	98.9	17,790	0.70×
30	North Dakota	$30,890	89.0	5,250	0.84×
31	Idaho	$30,050	95.5	10,950	0.87×
32	Wisconsin	$29,670	94.1	36,220	0.84×
33	Kentucky	$29,660	90.2	27,150	0.93×
34	Missouri	$29,400	90.8	41,640	0.97×
35	South Dakota	$28,990	88.6	7,350	1.10×
36	Indiana	$28,480	93.3	43,620	0.93×
37	Tennessee	$27,760	91.9	52,120	1.09×
38	Alabama	$26,840	88.8	28,760	0.93×
39	Nevada	$26,410	100.0	42,520	1.88×
40	Alaska	$26,310	102.4	3,830	0.80×
41	Minnesota	$25,470	98.6	37,630	0.87×
42	Arkansas	$24,680	86.9	17,880	0.94×
43	Wyoming	$23,920	92.7	3,620	0.88×
44	Montana	$23,370	94.6	7,200	0.96×
45	Texas	$23,240	97.1	199,610	0.97×
46	Mississippi	$21,370	87.0	15,190	0.89×
47	Iowa	$21,000	87.8	22,410	0.98×
48	Georgia	$18,700	96.3	76,470	1.07×
49	South Carolina	$18,370	93.7	47,200	1.40×
50	Oklahoma	$17,910	87.8	27,000	1.08×
51	Louisiana	$15,080	88.2	33,870	1.20×

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 waiters and waitresses wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for waiters and waitresses

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	$82,550	109.4	2,700	2.50×
2	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$61,620	100.9	1,510	0.86×
3	Urban Honolulu, HI	$60,250	111.0	8,550	1.31×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$57,280	111.1	26,530	0.87×
5	Walla Walla, WA	$56,730	98.5	340	0.90×
6	Bellingham, WA	$56,700	103.3	1,450	1.09×
7	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$55,270	105.6	1,370	1.00×
8	Longview-Kelso, WA	$54,870	97.5	410	0.68×
9	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$54,780	105.4	13,910	0.79×
10	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$53,060	102.4	830	1.08×
11	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$53,000	103.7	1,410	0.74×
12	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$51,460	100.1	1,510	0.80×
13	Bend, OR	$50,480	103.6	1,750	1.11×
14	Medford, OR	$50,440	101.4	1,130	0.87×
15	Boulder, CO	$49,870	105.2	2,670	0.95×
16	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$49,820	103.9	960	1.28×
17	Yakima, WA	$49,060	95.5	1,000	0.71×
18	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$48,980	99.6	6,310	0.96×
19	Grants Pass, OR	$48,950	97.8	330	0.74×
20	Salem, OR	$48,720	103.6	1,850	0.67×
21	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$48,560	100.3	3,420	0.91×
22	Syracuse, NY	$47,640	95.7	3,430	0.78×
23	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$47,610	112.6	138,720	1.00×
24	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$47,530	103.3	39,920	1.15×
25	Albany, OR	$47,440	102.1	380	0.56×
26	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$47,360	101.1	2,740	1.11×
27	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$46,950	109.4	3,930	1.00×
28	Santa Fe, NM	$46,640	98.8	1,680	1.87×
29	Corvallis, OR	$46,600	104.0	520	0.92×
30	Binghamton, NY	$46,600	92.9	1,390	0.98×
31	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$46,580	95.8	7,990	1.02×
32	Greeley, CO	$46,480	100.2	1,300	0.75×
33	Kingston, NY	$46,440	100.7	1,280	1.48×
34	Colorado Springs, CO	$46,230	100.7	4,330	0.94×
35	Elmira, NY	$46,160	94.4	480	0.98×
36	Ithaca, NY	$46,090	103.3	620	0.89×
37	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$46,040	108.9	46,160	1.01×
38	Utica-Rome, NY	$45,950	92.7	1,790	1.04×
39	Bangor, ME	$45,610	96.5	900	0.85×
40	Pueblo, CO	$45,500	91.8	850	0.94×

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 waiters and waitresses wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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