Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023

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)
879,610	1.2 %	$ 15.85	$ 32,960	0.4 %

Percentile wage estimates for Food Preparation Workers:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$ 11.04	$ 13.42	$ 15.59	$ 17.68	$ 20.67
Annual Wage (2)	$ 22,970	$ 27,920	$ 32,420	$ 36,780	$ 42,990

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	436,500	4.02	$ 15.26	$ 31,730
Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)	185,270	6.10	$ 16.13	$ 33,540
Special Food Services	51,220	7.11	$ 16.27	$ 33,850
General Merchandise Retailers	30,930	0.96	$ 19.18	$ 39,900
Elementary and Secondary Schools	26,510	0.31	$ 16.80	$ 34,940

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	51,220	7.11	$ 16.27	$ 33,850
Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)	185,270	6.10	$ 16.13	$ 33,540
Restaurants and Other Eating Places	436,500	4.02	$ 15.26	$ 31,730
Rooming and Boarding Houses, Dormitories, and Workers' Camps	190	1.88	$ 16.20	$ 33,700
Gasoline Stations	17,860	1.85	$ 14.07	$ 29,260

Top paying industries for Food Preparation Workers:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Motion Picture and Video Industries	260	0.06	$ 22.66	$ 47,130
Office Administrative Services	60	0.01	$ 22.42	$ 46,640
Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services	40	(7)	$ 22.38	$ 46,560
Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations	230	0.05	$ 21.32	$ 44,350
Animal Slaughtering and Processing	370	0.07	$ 20.41	$ 42,460

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 2023

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)
California	107,870	6.01	1.04	$ 18.83	$ 39,170
Texas	92,020	6.79	1.17	$ 14.34	$ 29,820
Florida	70,830	7.40	1.28	$ 15.75	$ 32,760
New York	51,920	5.53	0.95	$ 18.41	$ 38,300
Illinois	39,660	6.60	1.14	$ 16.35	$ 34,010

Map of location quotient of food preparation workers by state, May 2023

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	29,250	15.80	2.73	$ 11.36	$ 23,620
Maine	6,690	10.76	1.86	$ 16.66	$ 34,640
Alaska	2,840	9.12	1.57	$ 17.56	$ 36,530
Alabama	16,310	7.94	1.37	$ 12.41	$ 25,810
South Carolina	16,930	7.61	1.31	$ 13.83	$ 28,760

Map of annual mean wages of food preparation workers by state, May 2023

Top paying states for Food Preparation Workers:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Washington	17,450	4.99	0.86	$ 20.19	$ 41,990
District of Columbia	3,960	5.65	0.98	$ 19.01	$ 39,540
California	107,870	6.01	1.04	$ 18.83	$ 39,170
Massachusetts	15,230	4.18	0.72	$ 18.76	$ 39,010
Colorado	13,050	4.61	0.80	$ 18.62	$ 38,730

Map of employment of food preparation workers by area, May 2023

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	58,560	6.17	1.06	$ 18.61	$ 38,700
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	39,530	6.39	1.10	$ 18.71	$ 38,920
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	32,000	7.10	1.23	$ 16.77	$ 34,890
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	26,220	8.25	1.42	$ 13.94	$ 28,980
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	25,970	6.55	1.13	$ 15.13	$ 31,470
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	19,810	7.28	1.26	$ 16.01	$ 33,300
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	18,440	6.54	1.13	$ 15.09	$ 31,390
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	15,530	5.02	0.87	$ 17.09	$ 35,550
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	14,960	6.18	1.07	$ 19.70	$ 40,970
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	12,200	6.39	1.10	$ 16.97	$ 35,310

Map of location quotient of food preparation workers by area, May 2023

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	900	19.23	3.32	$ 10.93	$ 22,730
Lafayette, LA	3,410	17.75	3.06	$ 11.32	$ 23,550
Monroe, LA	1,280	17.06	2.95	$ 10.77	$ 22,400
Lake Charles, LA	1,520	16.73	2.89	$ 11.71	$ 24,360
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	2,790	16.37	2.83	$ 11.14	$ 23,180
New Orleans-Metairie, LA	8,270	16.07	2.77	$ 11.87	$ 24,680
Alexandria, LA	860	14.54	2.51	$ 10.75	$ 22,360
Houma-Thibodaux, LA	1,150	14.28	2.47	$ 11.24	$ 23,380
Baton Rouge, LA	5,520	14.23	2.46	$ 11.40	$ 23,700
Lewiston-Auburn, ME	630	13.24	2.29	$ 16.32	$ 33,940

Map of annual mean wages of food preparation workers by area, May 2023

Top paying metropolitan areas for Food Preparation Workers:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	9,830	4.73	0.82	$ 21.32	$ 44,350
Napa, CA	660	8.53	1.47	$ 20.81	$ 43,280
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	6,620	5.79	1.00	$ 20.60	$ 42,860
Boulder, CO	710	3.65	0.63	$ 20.13	$ 41,870
Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI	510	6.76	1.17	$ 19.96	$ 41,510
Santa Rosa, CA	1,520	7.37	1.27	$ 19.71	$ 40,990
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	14,960	6.18	1.07	$ 19.70	$ 40,970
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	300	5.94	1.03	$ 19.69	$ 40,960
Bremerton-Silverdale, WA	580	6.29	1.09	$ 19.52	$ 40,600
Olympia-Tumwater, WA	570	4.61	0.80	$ 19.46	$ 40,470

Nonmetropolitan areas with the highest employment in Food Preparation Workers:

Nonmetropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Kansas nonmetropolitan area	2,540	6.55	1.13	$ 13.21	$ 27,470
Southwest Maine nonmetropolitan area	2,360	12.46	2.15	$ 16.40	$ 34,110
North Texas Region of Texas nonmetropolitan area	1,850	6.64	1.15	$ 12.83	$ 26,690
Northwest Minnesota nonmetropolitan area	1,770	9.36	1.62	$ 15.86	$ 32,990
Northeastern Wisconsin nonmetropolitan area	1,690	8.64	1.49	$ 14.26	$ 29,660

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

Nonmetropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Northeast Louisiana nonmetropolitan area	1,070	17.04	2.94	$ 10.50	$ 21,840
Central Louisiana nonmetropolitan area	1,300	16.82	2.90	$ 10.79	$ 22,450
Southwest Louisiana nonmetropolitan area	1,070	16.07	2.77	$ 10.72	$ 22,290
Northeast Maine nonmetropolitan area	1,060	15.41	2.66	$ 16.19	$ 33,670
Southwest Maine nonmetropolitan area	2,360	12.46	2.15	$ 16.40	$ 34,110

Top paying nonmetropolitan areas for Food Preparation Workers:

Nonmetropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Northwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area	830	6.54	1.13	$ 19.72	$ 41,010
Massachusetts nonmetropolitan area	540	8.60	1.49	$ 19.31	$ 40,160
Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area	540	5.24	0.90	$ 19.14	$ 39,820
Hawaii / Kauai nonmetropolitan area	750	7.42	1.28	$ 18.83	$ 39,170
Western Washington nonmetropolitan area	840	6.56	1.13	$ 18.73	$ 38,960

About May 2023 National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors, all metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, and all states and the District of Columbia. The top employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable XLS files.

The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.

(1) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

(7) The value is less than .005 percent of industry employment.

(9) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average.

Other OEWS estimates and related information:

May 2023 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2023 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2023 Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2023 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2023 Occupation Profiles

Technical Notes

Last Modified Date: April 3, 2024