Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2022

35-2021 Food Preparation Workers

Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea.

National estimates for Food Preparation Workers
Industry profile for Food Preparation Workers
Geographic profile for Food Preparation Workers

National estimates for Food Preparation Workers:

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for Food Preparation Workers:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
904,330	1.4 %	$ 14.77	$ 30,720	0.4 %

Percentile wage estimates for Food Preparation Workers:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$ 10.47	$ 12.44	$ 14.32	$ 16.81	$ 18.65
Annual Wage (2)	$ 21,770	$ 25,880	$ 29,790	$ 34,970	$ 38,780

Industry profile for Food Preparation Workers:

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

Industries with the highest levels of employment in Food Preparation Workers:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Restaurants and Other Eating Places	493,690	4.74	$ 14.20	$ 29,530
Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)	174,920	5.86	$ 15.21	$ 31,630
Special Food Services	47,400	7.44	$ 15.35	$ 31,930
Elementary and Secondary Schools	23,990	0.29	$ 15.86	$ 32,990
General Merchandise Retailers	22,650	0.70	$ 19.03	$ 39,580

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in Food Preparation Workers:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Special Food Services	47,400	7.44	$ 15.35	$ 31,930
Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)	174,920	5.86	$ 15.21	$ 31,630
Restaurants and Other Eating Places	493,690	4.74	$ 14.20	$ 29,530
Rooming and Boarding Houses	270	2.75	$ 15.27	$ 31,760
Other Food Manufacturing	5,170	2.07	$ 16.13	$ 33,550

Top paying industries for Food Preparation Workers:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Grantmaking and Giving Services	80	0.05	$ 21.43	$ 44,570
Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations	270	0.06	$ 20.54	$ 42,730
Dairy Product Manufacturing	220	0.14	$ 20.04	$ 41,690
Animal Slaughtering and Processing	530	0.10	$ 19.74	$ 41,060
Warehousing and Storage	590	0.03	$ 19.13	$ 39,790

Geographic profile for Food Preparation Workers:

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

Map of employment of food preparation workers by state, May 2022

States with the highest employment level in Food Preparation Workers:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Texas	130,320	10.03	1.64	$ 13.21	$ 27,480
California	112,720	6.39	1.05	$ 17.19	$ 35,750
Florida	72,080	7.83	1.28	$ 14.77	$ 30,720
New York	50,380	5.53	0.90	$ 17.74	$ 36,900
Illinois	35,230	5.99	0.98	$ 14.96	$ 31,120

Map of location quotient of food preparation workers by state, May 2022

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Food Preparation Workers:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Louisiana	29,620	16.03	2.62	$ 10.63	$ 22,100
Alaska	3,480	11.38	1.86	$ 16.28	$ 33,860
Texas	130,320	10.03	1.64	$ 13.21	$ 27,480
Maine	5,820	9.54	1.56	$ 15.84	$ 32,940
Rhode Island	4,160	8.68	1.42	$ 14.86	$ 30,920

Map of annual mean wages of food preparation workers by state, May 2022

Top paying states for Food Preparation Workers:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
District of Columbia	4,240	6.14	1.00	$ 18.59	$ 38,670
Washington	17,030	5.00	0.82	$ 18.47	$ 38,420
Colorado	12,940	4.68	0.76	$ 18.28	$ 38,030
Hawaii	4,120	6.92	1.13	$ 18.07	$ 37,580
Massachusetts	19,690	5.52	0.90	$ 17.81	$ 37,050

Map of employment of food preparation workers by area, May 2022

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in Food Preparation Workers:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	50,100	5.45	0.89	$ 18.15	$ 37,760
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	40,360	6.62	1.08	$ 17.08	$ 35,520
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	33,610	8.84	1.44	$ 13.81	$ 28,710
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	30,610	10.02	1.64	$ 13.35	$ 27,770
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	26,640	6.03	0.99	$ 15.50	$ 32,240
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	18,530	7.06	1.15	$ 15.21	$ 31,630
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	18,380	6.74	1.10	$ 14.14	$ 29,400
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	16,140	5.33	0.87	$ 16.18	$ 33,650
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	13,820	5.78	0.94	$ 18.70	$ 38,900
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	13,420	4.96	0.81	$ 17.87	$ 37,170

Map of location quotient of food preparation workers by area, May 2022

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Food Preparation Workers:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Hammond, LA	910	20.05	3.28	$ 10.32	$ 21,470
Monroe, LA	1,440	19.29	3.16	$ 9.90	$ 20,600
Lafayette, LA	3,540	18.46	3.02	$ 10.52	$ 21,890
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	3,050	18.30	2.99	$ 10.34	$ 21,520
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	2,500	16.71	2.73	$ 11.36	$ 23,620
Houma-Thibodaux, LA	1,260	16.20	2.65	$ 10.35	$ 21,530
Alexandria, LA	960	16.09	2.63	$ 10.11	$ 21,020
New Orleans-Metairie, LA	8,310	16.02	2.62	$ 11.21	$ 23,310
Corpus Christi, TX	2,780	15.27	2.50	$ 12.68	$ 26,370
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	4,120	14.97	2.45	$ 11.72	$ 24,380