Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other
SOC 35-9099 · 2024-2034
All food preparation and serving related workers not listed separately.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $37,845per year
- Projected openings
- 51,550
- Projected change
- +10.1%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth
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.
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $44,223 | 3,350 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $40,973 | 310 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $40,654 | 4,050 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $39,581 | 2,940 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $39,581 | 400 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $38,864 | 530 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $38,751 | 620 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $37,534 | 19,510 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $37,451 | 7,410 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $37,373 | 310 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $37,157 | 180 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $36,808 | 250 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $36,787 | 660 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $36,293 | 420 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $36,262 | 120 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $36,201 | 2,740 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $36,201 | 240 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $36,036 | 7,660 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $35,810 | 1,130 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $35,810 | 1,010 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $35,759 | 640 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $35,183 | 260 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $34,915 | 7,060 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $34,761 | 400 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $34,720 | 220 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $34,710 | 160 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $34,545 | 80 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $34,422 | 670 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $34,320 | 100 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $34,320 | 340 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $35,405
- A quarter earn under
- $36,307
- Half earn under
- $37,845
- Three quarters earn under
- $44,387
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $54,476
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.
Related work
Occupations in the same family as this one, ordered by projected openings. Related by how the job classification groups them, not by a claim that the skills transfer.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $43,351 | 1,105,280 | +9.9% |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $36,994 | 469,390 | +2.8% |
| Cooks, Restaurant | $46,017 | 271,050 | +18.5% |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | $48,170 | 209,550 | +10.2% |
| Food Preparation Workers | $40,347 | 195,850 | +1% |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $43,115 | 159,630 | -10.3% |
Programs that train for this job — 1
Cake Decoration (2) (Spanish)
International College · Valencia · $5,100