Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages High openings flow SOC 35-3023

Fast Food and Counter Workers

About 904,300 projected annual openings shape how to read Fast Food and Counter Workers against Cooks, All Other, Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop, Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria, Bartenders.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Fast Food and Counter Workers: Cooks, All Other ($38K) , Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop ($31K) , Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria ($37K) , Bartenders ($34K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Fast Food and Counter Workers publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 35-3023 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary
  2. 2. Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food
  3. 3. Perform personnel activities, such as supervising and training employees
  4. 4. Request and record customer orders, and compute bills, using cash registers, multi-counting machines, or pencil and paper
  5. 5. Balance receipts and payments in cash registers
  6. 6. Add relishes and garnishes to food orders, according to instructions
  7. 7. Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints
  8. 8. Serve food, beverages, or desserts to customers in such settings as take-out counters of restaurants or lunchrooms, business or industria…
  9. 9. Monitor and order supplies or food items, and restock as necessary to maintain inventory
  10. 10. Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary
  11. 11. Distribute food to servers
  12. 12. Brew coffee and tea, and fill containers with requested beverages

Fast Food and Counter Workers: O*NET ranks Active Listening first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 35-3023 - 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. Social Perceptiveness 3.0
  3. 3. Coordination 3.0
  4. 4. Service Orientation 3.0
  5. 5. Monitoring 2.9
  6. 6. Speaking 2.6
  7. 7. Critical Thinking 2.5
  8. 8. Reading Comprehension 2.4

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 3.8
  2. 2. English Language 3.5
  3. 3. Food Production 3.4
  4. 4. Mathematics 3.0
  5. 5. Computers and Electronics 2.7
  6. 6. Administration and Management 2.6
Projected annual openings
904,300
growth + transfers + exits
National median $31,200/yr
$31K
National median
↑ +6%
Growth 2024-2034
3,854,050
Estimated US jobs
Cooks, All Other
Highest-pay peer · $38K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education No formal educational credential

Top Paying States for Fast Food and Counter Workers

1. Washington $37,710
2. California $42,280
3. District of Columbia $37,430
4. Massachusetts $35,850
5. New York $35,250
6. Oregon $35,050
7. Connecticut $35,380
8. Colorado $36,270
9. Vermont $36,030
10. Hawaii $35,250

Other Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations titles

  1. 1. Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop $31,200
  2. 2. Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria $37,450
  3. 3. Bartenders $34,340
  4. 4. Cooks, Short Order $35,880
  5. 5. Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers $33,980
  6. 6. Cooks, All Other $37,690

Roughly 904,300 projected annual openings (growth, transfers, exits) are the scale signal for Fast Food and Counter Workers. Median pay is $31,200 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: Washington at $37,710. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Cooks, All Other at $37,690. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Fast Food and Counter Workers pay-rank #15 in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

On the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations median table (17 detailed occupations with OEWS medians), Fast Food and Counter Workers lands at #15, 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 35-3023 · national median $31,200 · lower third of Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (#15/17). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

Fast Food and Counter Workers salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 35-3023

Washington · top state for Fast Food and Counter Workers

$38K published median

California · #2 state pay

$42K · behind Washington

Cooks, All Other

Highest-pay peer vs Fast Food and Counter Workers · $38K

Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop

Lower-pay peer beside Fast Food and Counter Workers · $31K

Compare Fast Food and Counter Workers

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Fast Food and Counter Workers with another occupation →

Openings and labor-flow next reads

Most Openings Rankings

Labor-flow scale across occupations

Compare openings side-by-side

Head-to-head with another role

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Fast Food and Counter Workers land on the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations median table? ▼
Fast Food and Counter Workers is pay-rank #15 of 17 in this major group, lower third of the median table. Closest lower-third titles: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop ($31K), Cooks, Fast Food ($31K), Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers ($34K), Bartenders ($34K). That position is a table rank, not a worker percentile.
What do fast food and counter workers do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Fast Food and Counter Workers. Leading ones include: Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary; Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food; Perform personnel activities, such as supervising and training employees; Request and record customer orders, and compute bills, using cash registers, multi-counting machines, or pencil and paper. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for fast food and counter workers? ▼
For SOC 35-3023, O*NET importance scores lead with Active Listening (3.0), Social Perceptiveness (3.0), Coordination (3.0), Service Orientation (3.0). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Food Production. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Fast Food and Counter Workers? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $31,200 as the national median for Fast Food and Counter Workers. The published 10th-90th range is $22,840 to $42,650. Beside Cooks, All Other ($37,690), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Fast Food and Counter Workers? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Fast Food and Counter Workers is +6%. Projected annual openings: about 904,300. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: faster than average.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Fast Food and Counter Workers? ▼
Washington ($37,710), California ($42,280), District of Columbia ($37,430) 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 Fast Food and Counter Workers card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 35-3023. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Fast Food and Counter Workers. 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