Cooks, Fast Food in Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway

BLS metro-level wage data places Cooks, Fast Food pay in Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR at a median of $28,580 per year ($13.74/hr/hour), drawn from the OEWS May 2025 release for this Metropolitan Statistical Area. Compared to the national median of $30,890, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway pays 7% below, which typically tracks with a lower local cost of living or smaller specialized-employer cluster. Approximately 3,050 cooks, fast foods are employed across the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway MSA in SOC 35-2011.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway pay distribution spans from $24,210 at the 10th percentile to $31,200 at the 90th, a 1.3× 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 $26,780 and the 75th at $29,900, so half of Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway-based cooks, fast foods 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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR 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 AR data, and peer-metro comparisons, a median is a starting point, not a ceiling.