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Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other · SOC 35-9099

Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other Salary in the Boston Metro Area

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area

Figures describe the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan statistical area as defined by BLS/OMB — the whole multi-county metro region, not Boston city limits.

Median annual wage$38,210
Median hourly wage$18.37

Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area earned a median of $38,210 per year ($18.37 per hour) as of the May 2025 BLS OEWS estimates. Pay ranged from $33,540 at the 10th percentile to $42,010 at the 90th. BLS estimates 430 people work in this occupation in the area.

Pay distribution

Half of Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other in the Boston metro area earn more than $38,210 per year, half earn less; the middle half earn between $33,540 and $39,860.

Wage percentiles (BLS OEWS)
Wage10th25thMedian75th90th
Annual$33,540$33,540$38,210$39,860$42,010
Hourly$16.12$16.12$18.37$19.16$20.20

A percentile is a cut point: 25% of workers in this occupation and area earn less than the 25th-percentile wage. The median is the 50th percentile — half earn less, half earn more.

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How this area compares

  • Boston metro areathis metro area
    $38,210
  • Massachusettsstate (MA)
    $35,300
  • United Statesnational
    $35,840

Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.

The median here is +8% vs Massachusetts overall and +7% vs the U.S. median for this occupation.

Compare with other areas

Where this metro sits nationally

$19,420$29,580$39,740$49,900Lafayette, LA — $19,420Monroe, LA — $19,500Shreveport-Bossier City, LA — $20,330Lake Charles, LA — $20,470Columbia, SC — $20,920Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC — $21,370Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA — $21,370Baton Rouge, LA — $21,640Athens-Clarke County, GA — $22,020Rome, GA — $22,050Warner Robins, GA — $22,100Charleston-North Charleston, SC — $22,230Gainesville, GA — $23,160New Orleans-Metairie, LA — $23,420San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR — $23,570Hammond, LA — $24,150Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA — $24,220Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI — $25,470Madison, WI — $25,850Macon-Bibb County, GA — $25,910Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC — $26,230Canton-Massillon, OH — $26,330Columbus, GA-AL — $26,370Valdosta, GA — $26,440Great Falls, MT — $26,500Mansfield, OH — $26,810Jacksonville, NC — $26,830Toledo, OH — $26,900Columbus, OH — $27,080Savannah, GA — $27,130Missoula, MT — $27,210Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA — $27,280Cleveland, OH — $27,700Lubbock, TX — $28,020Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH — $28,030Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN — $28,090El Paso, TX — $28,160Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL — $28,170Akron, OH — $28,290Corpus Christi, TX — $28,480St. Louis, MO-IL — $28,600Rocky Mount, NC — $28,620Greenville, NC — $28,720Reading, PA — $28,910Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC — $29,150Greensboro-High Point, NC — $29,190College Station-Bryan, TX — $29,300Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX — $29,580Raleigh-Cary, NC — $29,890Burlington, NC — $30,050Winston-Salem, NC — $30,060Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC — $30,200San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX — $30,280Billings, MT — $30,310Wilmington, NC — $30,350Asheville, NC — $30,450Jackson, MS — $30,570Jacksonville, FL — $30,590Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR — $30,780Birmingham, AL — $30,840Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL — $31,080Dover, DE — $31,200Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX — $31,200Providence-Warwick, RI-MA — $31,200Rockford, IL — $31,200Springfield, IL — $31,200Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL — $31,320Naples-Marco Island, FL — $31,370Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL — $31,420Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC — $31,440Tulsa, OK — $31,600Champaign-Urbana, IL — $31,990Charlottesville, VA — $32,250Pittsburgh, PA — $32,290Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX — $32,320Dubuque, IA — $32,340Burlington-South Burlington, VT — $32,420Springfield, MO — $32,740Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL — $33,040Reno, NV — $33,050Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV — $33,170Gulfport-Biloxi, MS — $33,430Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR — $33,540Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA — $33,660St. George, UT — $33,810Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI — $33,890Richmond, VA — $33,980North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL — $34,100Oklahoma City, OK — $34,140Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD — $34,190Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA — $34,290Hot Springs, AR — $34,320Durham-Chapel Hill, NC — $34,480Bakersfield-Delano, CA — $34,560Pueblo, CO — $34,570Ogden, UT — $34,630Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA — $34,650Merced, CA — $34,720Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT — $34,840Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL — $34,930Chico, CA — $34,950Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV — $34,990Fort Collins-Loveland, CO — $35,050New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ — $35,060Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI — $35,100Gainesville, FL — $35,140Yuba City, CA — $35,150Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL — $35,220Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA — $35,260Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA — $35,280Visalia, CA — $35,350Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA — $35,490Peoria, IL — $35,500Greeley, CO — $35,640Stockton-Lodi, CA — $35,690Colorado Springs, CO — $35,710Jefferson City, MO — $35,710Urban Honolulu, HI — $35,710Modesto, CA — $35,760Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO — $35,770Kansas City, MO-KS — $35,820Knoxville, TN — $35,970Port St. Lucie, FL — $36,020Tucson, AZ — $36,090San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA — $36,120Lexington Park, MD — $36,190Harrisonburg, VA — $36,230San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA — $36,330Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA — $36,350Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ — $36,360Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA — $36,360Salinas, CA — $36,440Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT — $36,450New Haven, CT — $36,640Clarksville, TN-KY — $36,660Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC — $36,780Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA — $36,810Albuquerque, NM — $36,890Lansing-East Lansing, MI — $37,040Vineland, NJ — $37,230Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT — $37,290Vallejo, CA — $37,330Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD — $37,390Chattanooga, TN-GA — $37,410Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ — $37,430Fresno, CA — $37,760Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX — $37,980Waterbury-Shelton, CT — $38,140Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN — $38,160Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ — $38,200Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH — $38,210Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA — $38,430Memphis, TN-MS-AR — $38,530Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV — $38,590Redding, CA — $38,770Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA — $38,910Napa, CA — $39,080Boulder, CO — $39,270Salt Lake City-Murray, UT — $39,570Flagstaff, AZ — $39,670Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN — $39,930Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN — $40,370Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ — $41,180San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA — $41,970Manchester-Nashua, NH — $43,330Trenton-Princeton, NJ — $43,350San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA — $44,720Bend, OR — $45,810Omaha, NE-IA — $48,070Kahului-Wailuku, HI — $49,400Salem, OR — $49,900

Each dot is one metro area with a published median — hover any dot for the name and figure. Metros without published estimates are not drawn.

The Boston metro area has the 21st-highest published median for this occupation among the 171 metro areas where BLS publishes it. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Keep exploring

Other occupations in the same SOC group with published medians here, largest employment first:

Fast Food and Counter Workers$36,290Waiters and Waitresses$39,270Cooks, Restaurant$45,830First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers$47,090Bartenders$37,760Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop$35,140

Highest-paying metro areas for food preparation and serving related workers, all others · Highest-paying occupations in Boston Metro

About this estimate

These figures are survey estimates from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — modeled from employer reports collected over three years and benchmarked to May 2025. They describe what employers in this area currently pay across all industries, not what any individual worker will be offered.

Employment counts wage-and-salary jobs in the occupation (self-employed workers are excluded). Estimates carry sampling error; percentile wages are rounded by BLS. Some values are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality or quality — suppressed values appear here as “not published”, never as zero. Read the full methodology.

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.