Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria · SOC 35-2012

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Cooks, Institution and Cafeterias

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for cooks, institution and cafeteria. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 391 metro areas

Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$55,400	250	3.3
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$51,880	2,640	2.3
3	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$51,620	240	4.6
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$51,530	5,380	2.6
5	Barnstable Town, MA	$49,720	170	1.8
6	Fairbanks-College, AK	$49,340	170	4.6
7	Bellingham, WA	$49,320	250	2.8
8	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$49,280	240	2.6
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$49,140	4,280	1.8
10	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$48,820	290	2.2
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$48,530	5,310	2.0
12	Anchorage, AK	$48,290	530	3.0
13	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$48,210	430	2.1
14	Napa, CA	$48,060	130	1.6
15	Boulder, CO	$48,020	820	4.2
16	Pittsfield, MA	$47,740	170	3.0
17	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$47,390	490	4.1
18	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$47,380	1,100	2.7
19	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$47,310	80	1.7
20	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$47,260	420	2.0
21	Vallejo, CA	$47,130	270	1.9
22	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$47,100	3,070	2.0
23	Portland-South Portland, ME	$47,000	600	2.1
24	Ithaca, NY	$46,870	190	3.9
25	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$46,870	15,270	1.6

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.