Food Servers, Nonrestaurant salary

SOC 35-3041 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$35,360

per year, nationally

Middle half

$31,190–$38,500

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

293,900

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.0%

48,000 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.

$28,030$46,120

10th: $28,030
25th: $31,190
Median: $35,360
75th: $38,500
90th: $46,120

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 food servers, nonrestaurant 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	New York	$39,370	107.9	17,520	0.96×
2	California	$39,010	110.7	32,430	0.94×
3	Colorado	$38,900	103.1	7,750	1.43×
4	Washington	$38,870	107.0	8,050	1.20×
5	Alaska	$38,090	102.4	430	0.70×
6	District of Columbia	$37,920	109.9	1,260	0.95×
7	Hawaii	$37,920	110.0	880	0.74×
8	Maine	$37,680	97.0	540	0.45×
9	Vermont	$37,540	98.0	780	1.36×
10	North Dakota	$36,910	89.0	1,630	2.01×
11	Massachusetts	$36,750	105.8	5,830	0.85×
12	New Hampshire	$36,710	104.2	1,770	1.37×
13	Maryland	$36,650	105.0	6,600	1.26×
14	Oregon	$36,620	103.4	4,420	1.19×
15	New Jersey	$36,390	108.8	11,400	1.41×
16	Nevada	$36,030	100.0	1,820	0.62×
17	Minnesota	$36,000	98.6	11,090	1.99×
18	Connecticut	$35,950	103.6	5,050	1.58×
19	New Mexico	$35,740	92.2	670	0.41×
20	Arizona	$35,390	100.7	4,620	0.75×
21	Virginia	$35,090	101.1	7,420	0.96×
22	Illinois	$35,080	100.0	17,560	1.52×
23	Rhode Island	$34,860	102.3	1,020	1.08×
24	Wisconsin	$34,670	94.1	6,680	1.20×
25	Michigan	$34,260	96.2	7,700	0.93×
26	Idaho	$34,220	95.5	930	0.58×
27	Florida	$33,930	103.4	19,240	1.03×
28	Pennsylvania	$33,300	97.6	13,940	1.22×
29	Wyoming	$33,090	92.7	250	0.47×
30	Kentucky	$32,200	90.2	3,660	0.97×
31	Montana	$32,090	94.6	1,050	1.09×
32	South Dakota	$31,980	88.6	160	0.18×
33	Indiana	$31,840	93.3	3,900	0.64×
34	Missouri	$31,840	90.8	7,490	1.35×
35	South Carolina	$31,740	93.7	2,990	0.69×
36	Nebraska	$31,540	90.1	3,800	1.96×
37	Georgia	$31,530	96.3	4,970	0.54×
38	North Carolina	$31,460	94.3	8,820	0.94×
39	Delaware	$31,430	99.8	1,010	1.10×
40	Tennessee	$30,670	91.9	5,230	0.84×
41	Ohio	$30,440	92.8	15,320	1.46×
42	West Virginia	$30,170	89.5	460	0.35×
43	Utah	$30,170	98.9	2,430	0.74×
44	Iowa	$30,110	87.8	5,270	1.79×
45	Texas	$29,300	97.1	14,340	0.54×
46	Kansas	$29,040	90.1	1,270	0.47×
47	Alabama	$29,000	88.8	2,920	0.73×
48	Oklahoma	$28,490	87.8	1,760	0.55×
49	Arkansas	$27,600	86.9	3,540	1.44×
50	Mississippi	$27,250	87.0	1,860	0.84×
51	Louisiana	$27,200	88.2	2,380	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 food servers, nonrestaurant wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for food servers, nonrestaurant

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	$62,960	109.4	200	1.45×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$46,210	110.4	1,960	0.91×
3	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$45,030	101.6	50	0.55×
4	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$44,710	115.6	4,160	0.93×
5	Napa, CA	$41,850	112.6	240	1.60×
6	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$41,090	100.9	310	1.38×
7	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$40,640	111.1	4,800	1.22×
8	Ithaca, NY	$40,240	103.3	120	1.29×
9	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$40,180	107.8	520	1.34×
10	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$39,850	105.8	4,570	1.50×
11	Lawton, OK	$39,720	85.9	50	0.56×
12	Anchorage, AK	$39,550	105.4	250	0.76×
13	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$39,120	112.6	19,450	1.08×
14	Goldsboro, NC	$38,980	88.5	50	0.68×
15	Boulder, CO	$38,930	105.2	650	1.80×
16	Vallejo, CA	$38,910	108.5	300	1.10×
17	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$38,740	108.8	450	1.18×
18	Salinas, CA	$38,660	109.0	400	1.13×
19	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$38,460	106.7	1,980	0.97×
20	Vineland, NJ	$38,350	96.0	160	1.39×
21	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$38,350	113.6	11,850	1.00×
22	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$38,260	111.9	3,400	1.17×
23	Bozeman, MT	$38,210	102.5	130	0.92×
24	Flagstaff, AZ	$38,200	100.3	140	1.11×
25	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$38,150	108.6	310	1.35×
26	Lewiston-Auburn, ME	$38,140	94.7	70	0.73×
27	Modesto, CA	$38,010	104.1	360	0.97×
28	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$37,860	109.9	170	0.89×
29	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$37,860	100.1	210	0.84×
30	Bend, OR	$37,790	103.6	200	1.00×
31	Yuba City, CA	$37,660	104.2	60	0.66×
32	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$37,540	103.7	220	0.91×
33	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$37,540	108.9	5,760	0.97×
34	Great Falls, MT	$37,530	96.8	110	1.56×
35	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$37,480	110.5	700	1.15×
36	Chico, CA	$37,400	101.2	130	0.87×
37	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$37,380	105.1	500	0.92×
38	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$37,330	108.3	4,370	0.85×
39	Grand Forks, ND-MN	$37,280	86.7	230	2.30×
40	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$37,230	105.4	2,720	1.19×

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 food servers, nonrestaurant wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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