Chef salary
What a chef actually earns, from 919 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-07-23.
Switch the market above to see chef pay in the 4 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A chef earns a blended US median near 50,417 dollars, with the typical middle running from 35,683 dollars to 71,124 dollars. The official OEWS median is higher, 60,990 dollars, because job ads skew toward the roles that pay below the occupation-wide average. The official trend has moved up about 18 percent since 2019. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is cook, at 69 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open chef roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
- VCS Food Service Specialist - Executive ChefVeterans Health Administration · Washington, District of Columbia$92kJul 21
- Relief ChefDexterra Group · CanadaRemoteJul 18
- Supervisory ChefCommander, Navy Installations Command · Tokyo, Japan$55k–$65kJul 9
- Chef de Produit Senior, Matériel (Stations)Lyft · Montreal, Canada$80kJul 6
- [US - DC] - Area Manager I, Sous ChefHellofresh · Goodyear, AZ, United StatesJul 6
- Commercialization Chef (all genders)Hellofresh · Verden, Niedersachsen, GermanyJul 5
By country
- United States$35,683 – $71,124 · median $50,417
- Canada$29,375 – $47,289 · median $34,573
- United Kingdom$37,050 – $49,040 · median $41,943
- Australia$55,796 – $57,365 · median $55,796
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- Massachusettsmedian $71,330
- Washingtonmedian $69,800
- Californiamedian $66,780
- New Yorkmedian $64,300
- Oregonmedian $60,270
- Nevadamedian $58,590
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Related salaries
- Cook salary$42,000 median
- Hotel Manager salary$66,368 median
- Facilities Manager salary$95,609 median
Quick answers
How much does a chef make?
The blended US median is about 50,417 dollars, with a typical range from 35,683 dollars to 71,124 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 60,990 dollars.
What can a chef move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is cook, at 69 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 35-1011. Live corpus 919 observations, 2026-07-23. Definitions in the glossary.