Pay · 35-1011
Chefs and head cooks earn $62,470 a year at the midpoint
Across roughly 200,040 people in this work, the midpoint is $62,470 a year, with most starting near $48,440.
National figures for chefs and head cooks, 35-1011, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Chef earnings, from starting pay to the highest 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Ranked 369 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 53% of the occupations in the survey.
- 367 Riggers $62,640
- 368 Athletic Trainers $62,520
- 369 Chefs and head cooks $62,470
- 370 Plant and System Operators, All Other $62,470
- 371 Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents $62,370
Examples
Resumes written for this line of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Resumes for chefs and head cooks
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Monitored sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
- Instructed cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
- Supervised or coordinated activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Chef wages, state by state
The 45 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.75 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | $79,930 | $56,680 | $56,680 — $127,080 | 740 |
| Hawaii | $77,360 | $48,970 | $48,970 — $118,000 | 1,240 |
| District of Columbia | $76,420 | $56,570 | $56,570 — $104,660 | 2,020 |
| Washington | $76,010 | $49,920 | $49,920 — $95,990 | 5,320 |
| New Jersey | $74,280 | $49,200 | $49,200 — $100,100 | 9,100 |
| South Carolina | $71,860 | $47,640 | $47,640 — $88,880 | 2,650 |
| New York | $70,670 | $46,260 | $46,260 — $120,370 | 17,430 |
| Tennessee | $69,810 | $45,410 | $45,410 — $98,860 | 3,820 |
| Massachusetts | $69,540 | $47,460 | $47,460 — $99,270 | 6,000 |
| Georgia | $66,230 | $43,300 | $43,300 — $100,970 | 3,680 |
| Vermont | $65,440 | $48,950 | $48,950 — $83,040 | 610 |
| Colorado | $65,400 | $46,330 | $46,330 — $93,270 | 3,970 |
| California | $64,500 | $37,380 | $37,380 — $101,870 | 31,670 |
| Missouri | $64,480 | $39,650 | $39,650 — $91,500 | 1,750 |
| Connecticut | $64,310 | $44,530 | $44,530 — $99,870 | 3,080 |
| Pennsylvania | $63,860 | $39,040 | $39,040 — $95,830 | 9,170 |
| Oregon | $63,600 | $45,910 | $45,910 — $95,180 | 2,510 |
| New Hampshire | $63,400 | $40,220 | $40,220 — $95,990 | 1,170 |
| Virginia | $63,270 | $43,010 | $43,010 — $90,470 | 3,600 |
| Minnesota | $62,600 | $48,400 | $48,400 — $95,890 | 1,730 |
| Alabama | $62,400 | $39,940 | $39,940 — $85,990 | 1,000 |
| Nevada | $62,380 | $36,410 | $36,410 — $100,980 | 3,940 |
| New Mexico | $62,250 | $43,370 | $43,370 — $100,010 | 770 |
| Maryland | $61,590 | $38,310 | $38,310 — $100,330 | 3,220 |
| Delaware | $61,440 | $49,920 | $49,920 — $84,680 | 590 |
| Wisconsin | $61,300 | $41,990 | $41,990 — $87,570 | 1,860 |
| North Carolina | $61,130 | $38,210 | $38,210 — $92,210 | 4,920 |
| Michigan | $60,070 | $42,170 | $42,170 — $82,000 | 5,360 |
| Arizona | $59,890 | $33,970 | $33,970 — $95,240 | 4,080 |
| Utah | $59,060 | $27,940 | $27,940 — $79,420 | 1,740 |
| Illinois | $58,830 | $40,330 | $40,330 — $88,420 | 8,290 |
| Oklahoma | $58,540 | $28,920 | $28,920 — $77,450 | 1,430 |
| Kansas | $58,390 | $36,540 | $36,540 — $89,990 | 860 |
| Florida | $58,240 | $31,920 | $31,920 — $92,300 | 19,670 |
| Montana | $57,470 | $38,200 | $38,200 — $80,180 | 720 |
| Maine | $57,010 | $48,430 | $48,430 — $81,120 | 1,250 |
| Texas | $56,080 | $31,380 | $31,380 — $92,290 | 13,270 |
| Mississippi | $54,850 | $30,900 | $30,900 — $83,850 | 840 |
| Ohio | $53,990 | $38,370 | $38,370 — $89,960 | 4,000 |
| Alaska | $52,190 | $39,170 | $39,170 — $91,520 | 680 |
| Indiana | $52,190 | $30,930 | $30,930 — $82,430 | 1,940 |
| Kentucky | $48,070 | $31,550 | $31,550 — $88,410 | 1,790 |
| Iowa | $47,990 | $36,770 | $36,770 — $74,730 | 1,640 |
| Arkansas | $46,170 | $33,500 | $33,500 — $87,730 | 880 |
| Louisiana | $45,570 | $32,320 | $32,320 — $86,750 | 1,990 |
Chef pay rate, hourly and yearly
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Questions people often ask
What is a chef’s yearly income?
A chef makes a median of $62,470 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $48,440 and $78,750.
What is a chef’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $30.03 an hour; the average is $66,700 a year.
What is the starting pay for a chef?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $48,440 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $37,900.
Which state pays chefs and head cooks the most?
Rhode Island, with a median of $79,930 a year.
How many people work as chefs and head cooks?
About 200,040 in the United States — number 369 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays about the same
Median pay within $190 of what chefs and head cooks earn — $62,470 a year — but not always the same spread.
- Same median Plant and System Operators, All Other $62,470median a year 10th percentile: $40,700 90th percentile: $94,560
- $170 more Riggers $62,640median a year 10th percentile: $40,680 90th percentile: $97,850
- $190 less Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other $62,280median a year 10th percentile: $39,000 90th percentile: $102,690