Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2019

35-2014 Cooks, Restaurant

Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
Geographic profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
1,401,890	0.7 %	$13.80	$28,700	0.3 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$9.60	$11.31	$13.36	$15.67	$18.62
Annual Wage (2)	$19,970	$23,520	$27,790	$32,600	$38,740

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Restaurants and Other Eating Places	1,186,130	10.97	$13.60	$28,280
Traveler Accommodation	84,540	4.12	$16.00	$33,280
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	30,960	7.78	$13.15	$27,340
Other Amusement and Recreation Industries	27,120	2.01	$14.69	$30,560
Special Food Services	23,000	3.13	$15.31	$31,850

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Restaurants and Other Eating Places	1,186,130	10.97	$13.60	$28,280
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	30,960	7.78	$13.15	$27,340
Traveler Accommodation	84,540	4.12	$16.00	$33,280
Gambling Industries	9,110	4.02	$14.53	$30,230
Special Food Services	23,000	3.13	$15.31	$31,850

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services	90	0.04	$17.61	$36,620
Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water	490	2.86	$16.81	$34,970
Grantmaking and Giving Services	(8)	(8)	$16.62	$34,580
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	210	0.13	$16.13	$33,540
Facilities Support Services	110	0.07	$16.03	$33,340

Geographic profile for this occupation: Top

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	179,050	10.30	1.08	$15.48	$32,200
Texas	117,010	9.41	0.99	$12.55	$26,100
Florida	116,310	13.23	1.39	$13.81	$28,730
New York	71,100	7.47	0.78	$15.60	$32,450
Pennsylvania	58,390	9.89	1.04	$12.87	$26,770

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Hawaii	11,220	17.65	1.85	$17.26	$35,900
Nevada	22,510	16.16	1.69	$16.11	$33,500
Florida	116,310	13.23	1.39	$13.81	$28,730
Montana	6,050	12.94	1.36	$13.14	$27,320
Colorado	33,720	12.59	1.32	$14.37	$29,890

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Hawaii	11,220	17.65	1.85	$17.26	$35,900
District of Columbia	8,130	11.24	1.18	$16.91	$35,170
Washington	32,010	9.65	1.01	$16.51	$34,340
Massachusetts	30,470	8.42	0.88	$16.39	$34,100
Nevada	22,510	16.16	1.69	$16.11	$33,500

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	65,010	10.42	1.09	$14.84	$30,870
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	61,910	6.41	0.67	$16.19	$33,680
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	41,330	8.84	0.93	$14.41	$29,970
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	33,570	12.71	1.33	$14.63	$30,430
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	32,790	8.97	0.94	$13.21	$27,480
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	29,590	11.97	1.25	$18.48	$38,430
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	29,510	9.67	1.01	$12.62	$26,250
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	27,510	8.65	0.91	$15.02	$31,230
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	25,220	9.19	0.96	$13.06	$27,160
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	23,160	8.28	0.87	$16.61	$34,540