Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
United States. Estimated employment 441,050, with pages for 32 metro areas below.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-2012
Fig. 1 — The wage rule
Where you sit in the distribution
Drag the marker, or type a figure
$37,450 · 50th
$28,48010th
$32,44025th
$37,45050th
$44,80075th
$49,67090th
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 Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.
| Metro area | Median | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | $51,880 | 2,640 |
| San Francisco, CA | $49,140 | 4,280 |
| Santa Maria, CA | $48,210 | 430 |
| Napa, CA | $48,060 | 130 |
| Santa Rosa, CA | $47,260 | 420 |
| Vallejo, CA | $47,130 | 270 |
| San Diego, CA | $47,100 | 3,070 |
| New York, NY | $46,870 | 15,270 |
| Ithaca, NY | $46,870 | 190 |
| Kiryas Joel, NY | $45,740 | 650 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $45,400 | 9,860 |
| Kingston, NY | $44,650 | 190 |
| Albany, NY | $43,550 | 920 |
| Buffalo, NY | $41,860 | 1,110 |
| Utica, NY | $41,660 | 360 |
| Binghamton, NY | $40,510 | 270 |
| Philadelphia, PA | $38,870 | 9,810 |
| Allentown, PA | $38,570 | 1,750 |
| Champaign, IL | $38,330 | 550 |
| Chicago, IL | $38,290 | 14,010 |
| Bloomington, IL | $37,950 | 520 |
| State College, PA | $37,100 | 260 |
| Lancaster, PA | $37,040 | 1,020 |
| Harrisburg, PA | $36,880 | 1,190 |
| Decatur, IL | $36,750 | 170 |
| Reading, PA | $36,590 | 810 |
| Lebanon, PA | $36,230 | 290 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $36,100 | 4,890 |
| Peoria, IL | $35,980 | 790 |
| Springfield, IL | $35,600 | 460 |
| Kankakee, IL | $35,200 | 230 |
| Rockford, IL | $34,580 | 690 |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Employment
- 441,050 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 35-2012, Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria. Mapped to our taxonomy as cooks-institution-and-cafeteria.
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.