Cooks, Fast Food
SOC 35-2011 · 2024-2034
Prepare and cook food in a fast food restaurant with a limited menu. Duties of these cooks are limited to preparation of a few basic items and normally involve operating large-volume single-purpose cooking equipment.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
Shrinking -10.3%
California projects this job will shrink over the next ten years. Fewer openings may mean a harder search.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $43,115per year
- Projected openings
- 159,630
- Projected change
- -10.3%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Numerous Job Openings
The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Reading Comprehension
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $43,170 | 7,830 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $43,170 | 5,530 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $42,988 | 5,890 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $40,376 | 1,430 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $40,325 | 500 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $40,222 | 1,710 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $39,039 | 1,460 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $38,741 | 1,060 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $38,062 | 2,290 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $37,867 | 630 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $37,826 | 620 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $37,466 | 830 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $37,425 | 1,250 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $37,414 | 9,920 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $37,396 | 21,630 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $37,390 | 58,140 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $37,229 | 490 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $37,219 | 750 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $37,085 | 840 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $37,075 | 3,960 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $36,982 | 1,120 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $36,982 | 2,230 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $36,900 | 2,200 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $36,797 | 810 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $36,746 | 17,550 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $36,705 | 760 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $36,633 | 3,740 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $36,324 | 3,090 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $36,160 | 6,640 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $36,108 | 23,880 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | Not reported | 810 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $36,656
- A quarter earn under
- $38,204
- Half earn under
- $43,115
- Three quarters earn under
- $44,397
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $49,985
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooks, Short Order | $44,017 | 43,610 | -2.3% |
| Cooks, Restaurant | $46,017 | 271,050 | +18.5% |
| Food Preparation Workers | $40,347 | 195,850 | +1% |
| Bakers | $44,104 | 52,930 | +8.8% |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $43,351 | 1,105,280 | +9.9% |
| Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria | $47,565 | 51,210 | +9.9% |
Programs that train for this job — 2
Western Cooking Class
Charity Cultural Services Center · San Francisco · $8,000
Barista/Latte Artist/Cook Registered Apprenticeship Program
Hospitality Training Academy (HTA) JATC · Los Angeles · $6,500