Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages High openings flow SOC 35-3031

Waiters and Waitresses

About 456,700 projected annual openings shape how to read Waiters and Waitresses against Cooks, Restaurant, Cooks, Fast Food, Food Servers, Nonrestaurant, Bartenders.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Waiters and Waitresses: Cooks, Restaurant ($37K) , Cooks, Fast Food ($31K) , Food Servers, Nonrestaurant ($35K) , Bartenders ($34K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Waiters and Waitresses publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 35-3031 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Collect payments from customers
  2. 2. Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages
  3. 3. Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff
  4. 4. Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems
  5. 5. Take orders from patrons for food or beverages
  6. 6. Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes
  7. 7. Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning
  8. 8. Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining
  9. 9. Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required
  10. 10. Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping and mopping floors, vacuuming carpet, tidying up server station, taking out trash, or checking…
  11. 11. Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request
  12. 12. Prepare tables for meals, including setting up items such as linens, silverware, and glassware

Waiters and Waitresses: O*NET ranks Service Orientation first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 35-3031 - lead skill Service Orientation at 3.9 ; lead knowledge Customer and Personal Service. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Service Orientation 3.9
  2. 2. Active Listening 3.5
  3. 3. Speaking 3.5
  4. 4. Social Perceptiveness 3.4
  5. 5. Coordination 3.1
  6. 6. Monitoring 3.0
  7. 7. Critical Thinking 2.9
  8. 8. Reading Comprehension 2.8

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 3.9
  2. 2. English Language 3.6
  3. 3. Sales and Marketing 3.3
  4. 4. Food Production 2.6
  5. 5. Mathematics 2.6
  6. 6. Administration and Management 2.5
Projected annual openings
456,700
growth + transfers + exits
National median $35,230/yr
$35K
National median
↓ -1%
Growth 2024-2034
2,270,910
Estimated US jobs
Cooks, Restaurant
Highest-pay peer · $37K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education No formal educational credential

Top Paying States for Waiters and Waitresses

1. Colorado $44,860
2. New York $47,020
3. Washington $56,130
4. Vermont $59,140
5. Arizona $43,950
6. District of Columbia $47,850
7. New Jersey $44,960
8. Hawaii $62,390
9. Oregon $48,410
10. Virginia $44,760

Other Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations titles

  1. 1. Food Servers, Nonrestaurant $35,360
  2. 2. Bartenders $34,340
  3. 3. Cooks, Restaurant $37,390
  4. 4. Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers $33,980
  5. 5. Cooks, Fast Food $30,890
  6. 6. Cooks, Short Order $35,880

Roughly 456,700 projected annual openings (growth, transfers, exits) are the scale signal for Waiters and Waitresses. Median pay is $35,230 in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations.

Employment Projections expect -1% change between 2024 and 2034 (declining 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: Colorado at $44,860. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Cooks, Restaurant at $37,390. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Waiters and Waitresses pay-rank #11 in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

Waiters and Waitresses sits at pay-rank #11 of 17 detailed Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations, the middle third of the major-group median table. ROW_NUMBER on median; title breaks ties.

Other mid-table 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 35-3031 · national median $35,230 · middle third of Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (#11/17). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

Waiters and Waitresses salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 35-3031

Colorado · top state for Waiters and Waitresses

$45K published median

New York · #2 state pay

$47K · behind Colorado

Cooks, Restaurant

Highest-pay peer vs Waiters and Waitresses · $37K

Cooks, Fast Food

Lower-pay peer beside Waiters and Waitresses · $31K

Compare Waiters and Waitresses

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Waiters and Waitresses with another occupation →

Openings and labor-flow next reads

Most Openings Rankings

Labor-flow scale across occupations

Compare openings side-by-side

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Waiters and Waitresses mid-table among Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations? ▼
Yes: pay-rank #11 of 17 detailed Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations, the middle third. Mid-table neighbors: Food Preparation Workers ($35K), Food Servers, Nonrestaurant ($35K), Dishwashers ($35K), Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other ($36K). ROW_NUMBER on median; title breaks ties.
What do waiters and waitresses do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Waiters and Waitresses. Leading ones include: Collect payments from customers; Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages; Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff; Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for waiters and waitresses? ▼
For SOC 35-3031, O*NET importance scores lead with Service Orientation (3.9), Active Listening (3.5), Speaking (3.5), Social Perceptiveness (3.4). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Sales and Marketing. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Waiters and Waitresses? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $35,230 as the national median for Waiters and Waitresses. The published 10th-90th range is $18,100 to $64,720. Beside Cooks, Restaurant ($37,390), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Waiters and Waitresses? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Waiters and Waitresses is -1%. Projected annual openings: about 456,700. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: declining.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Waiters and Waitresses? ▼
Colorado ($44,860), New York ($47,020), Washington ($56,130) 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 Waiters and Waitresses card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 35-3031. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Waiters and Waitresses. 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