Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages High openings flow SOC 35-9011

Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers

About 99,600 projected annual openings shape how to read Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers against Cooks, Private Household, Fast Food and Counter Workers, First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers: Cooks, Private Household ($48K) , Fast Food and Counter Workers ($31K) , First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers ($44K) , Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria ($37K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 35-9011 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Run cash registers
  2. 2. Serve ice water, coffee, rolls, or butter to patrons
  3. 3. Scrape and stack dirty dishes and carry dishes and other tableware to kitchens for cleaning
  4. 4. Wipe tables or seats with dampened cloths or replace dirty tablecloths
  5. 5. Set tables with clean linens, condiments, or other supplies
  6. 6. Greet and seat customers
  7. 7. Clean up spilled food or drink or broken dishes and remove empty bottles and trash
  8. 8. Maintain adequate supplies of items, such as clean linens, silverware, glassware, dishes, or trays
  9. 9. Locate items requested by customers
  10. 10. Fill beverage or ice dispensers
  11. 11. Carry food, dishes, trays, or silverware from kitchens or supply departments to serving counters
  12. 12. Perform serving, cleaning, or stocking duties in establishments, such as cafeterias or dining rooms, to facilitate customer service

Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers: O*NET ranks Active Listening first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 35-9011 - lead skill Active Listening at 3.0 ; lead knowledge Customer and Personal Service. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Active Listening 3.0
  2. 2. Coordination 3.0
  3. 3. Service Orientation 3.0
  4. 4. Speaking 2.9
  5. 5. Monitoring 2.9
  6. 6. Social Perceptiveness 2.9
  7. 7. Judgment and Decision Making 2.9
  8. 8. Critical Thinking 2.8

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 4.3
  2. 2. Food Production 3.3
  3. 3. English Language 3.3
  4. 4. Sales and Marketing 3.0
  5. 5. Administration and Management 2.8
  6. 6. Personnel and Human Resources 2.5
Projected annual openings
99,600
growth + transfers + exits
National median $33,980/yr
$34K
National median
↑ +6%
Growth 2024-2034
542,750
Estimated US jobs
Cooks, Private Household
Highest-pay peer · $48K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education No formal educational credential

Top Paying States for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers

1. Virgin Islands $51,760
2. District of Columbia $39,080
3. Arizona $36,500
4. Washington $41,420
5. Maryland $37,020
6. New York $36,740
7. Colorado $36,790
8. Maine $38,560
9. Hawaii $51,200
10. Oregon $36,800

Other Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations titles

  1. 1. First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers $44,080
  2. 2. Cooks, Private Household $47,940
  3. 3. Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria $37,450
  4. 4. Cooks, All Other $37,690
  5. 5. Fast Food and Counter Workers $31,200
  6. 6. Cooks, Short Order $35,880

Roughly 99,600 projected annual openings (growth, transfers, exits) are the scale signal for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers. Median pay is $33,980 in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations.

Employment Projections expect +6% change between 2024 and 2034 (faster than average vs baseline 3.1%). BLS assigns No formal educational credential as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: Virgin Islands at $51,760. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Cooks, Private Household at $47,940. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers pay-rank #14 in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

On the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations median table (17 detailed occupations with OEWS medians), Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers lands at #14, in the lower third. That rank is a table position, not a statement about individual workers.

Other lower-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

SOC 35-9011 · national median $33,980 · lower third of Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (#14/17). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 35-9011

Virgin Islands · top state for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers

$52K published median

District of Columbia · #2 state pay

$39K · behind Virgin Islands

Cooks, Private Household

Highest-pay peer vs Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers · $48K

Fast Food and Counter Workers

Lower-pay peer beside Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers · $31K

Compare Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
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Openings and labor-flow next reads

Most Openings Rankings

Labor-flow scale across occupations

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers land on the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations median table? ▼
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers is pay-rank #14 of 17 in this major group, lower third of the median table. Closest lower-third titles: Bartenders ($34K), Fast Food and Counter Workers ($31K), Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop ($31K), Cooks, Fast Food ($31K). That position is a table rank, not a worker percentile.
What do dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers. Leading ones include: Run cash registers; Serve ice water, coffee, rolls, or butter to patrons; Scrape and stack dirty dishes and carry dishes and other tableware to kitchens for cleaning; Wipe tables or seats with dampened cloths or replace dirty tablecloths. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers? ▼
For SOC 35-9011, O*NET importance scores lead with Active Listening (3.0), Coordination (3.0), Service Orientation (3.0), Speaking (2.9). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, Food Production, English Language. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $33,980 as the national median for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers. The published 10th-90th range is $21,300 to $46,570. Beside Cooks, Private Household ($47,940), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers is +6%. Projected annual openings: about 99,600. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: faster than average.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers? ▼
Virgin Islands ($51,760), District of Columbia ($39,080), Arizona ($36,500) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 35-9011. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics