Chefs and Head Cooks in Salt Lake City-Murray

BLS metro-level wage data places Chefs and Head Cooks pay in Salt Lake City-Murray, UT at a median of $60,030 per year ($28.86/hr/hour), drawn from the OEWS May 2025 release for this Metropolitan Statistical Area. Compared to the national median of $62,470, Salt Lake City-Murray pays 4% below, which typically tracks with a lower local cost of living or smaller specialized-employer cluster. Approximately 900 chefs and head cookss are employed across the Salt Lake City-Murray MSA in SOC 35-1011.

The Salt Lake City-Murray pay distribution spans from $27,940 at the 10th percentile to $79,420 at the 90th, a 2.8× spread that reflects experience tenure, specialization, employer size, and the difference between public-sector, nonprofit, and private-sector compensation inside the metro. The 25th percentile sits at $42,530 and the 75th at $77,900, so half of Salt Lake City-Murray-based chefs and head cookss earn within that middle band.

Metro figures capture where you actually work, not just where you live, which matters for commuters. BLS draws metro boundaries from the OMB MSA definitions, so Salt Lake City-Murray, UT covers the central city plus outlying counties tied to the metro economically. Remember that OEWS wages reflect base pay only: employer-provided health insurance, retirement matches, stock options, signing bonuses, overtime, and tips are excluded and can add 20-40% to real total compensation. Before using this metro median as a negotiation anchor, triangulate against the same occupation's national profile (linked below), its state-wide UT data, and peer-metro comparisons, a median is a starting point, not a ceiling.