Chefs and Head Cooks
United States. Estimated employment 200,040, with pages for 15 metro areas below.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-1011
Fig. 1 — The wage rule
Where you sit in the distribution
Drag the marker, or type a figure
$62,470 · 50th
$37,90010th
$48,44025th
$62,47050th
$78,75075th
$98,56090th
That is the median — half of people in this occupation in the US earn more.
Table 1 — By metro area
Where it pays
Every published Chefs and Head Cooks page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.
| Metro area | Median | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Albany, NY | $84,430 | 470 |
| San Jose, CA | $79,020 | 1,280 |
| Napa, CA | $78,960 | 300 |
| Kingston, NY | $74,710 | 140 |
| Buffalo, NY | $74,290 | 640 |
| Santa Rosa, CA | $73,570 | 460 |
| Salinas, CA | $72,440 | 360 |
| Kiryas Joel, NY | $72,340 | 360 |
| New York, NY | $71,780 | 20,010 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $69,990 | 11,430 |
| San Francisco, CA | $68,970 | 5,340 |
| Rochester, NY | $66,080 | 690 |
| Santa Maria, CA | $65,060 | 520 |
| Riverside, CA | $64,480 | 2,770 |
| Syracuse, NY | $64,170 | 240 |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Employment
- 200,040 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 35-1011, Chefs and Head Cooks. Mapped to our taxonomy as chefs-and-head-cooks.
Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.