Cook salary
What a cook actually earns, from 990 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 2026-09-06.
Switch the market above to see cook pay in the 6 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 cook earns a blended US median near 40,948 dollars, with the typical middle running from 33,127 dollars to 47,615 dollars. The official trend has moved up about 33 percent since 2019. Demand is rated high, and 0% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is chef, at 61 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open cook roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
Chef de Partie at Tibits AgAarau, Aargau, Switzerland1d agoApply- Koch / Köchin EFZ at Wägelwiesen Alters- und Pflegezentrum AGWallisellen, Zürich, Switzerland1d agoApply
Koch/Köchin Restaurant Alpstubli at Stoosbahnen AGStoos SZ, Schwyz, Switzerland1d agoApply- Koch/ Köchin 100% at Rehaklinik Seewis AGSeewis Dorf, Graubünden, Switzerland1d agoApply
- Köchin / Koch EFZ 80 - 100% at Krankenhausgesellschaft SchwyzSchwyz, Schwyz, Switzerland1d agoApply
Cocinero(a) de Pasteleria II at MarriottPapagayo1d agoApply
By country
- United States$33,127$40,948$47,615
- United Kingdom$37,374$39,843$43,703
- Canada$27,801$30,177$34,086
- Australia$56,623$57,340$58,774
- Mexico$8,511$9,040$9,952
- Netherlands$36,441$39,244$41,585
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a cook profile already covers.
- 293 open chef roles$64,916 median · +$23,968 · 61% readiness
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Chef salary$64,916 median
Quick answers
How much does a cook make?
The blended US median is about 40,948 dollars, with a typical range from 33,127 dollars to 47,615 dollars.
Is cook a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 0% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a cook move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is chef, at 61 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 35-2014. Live corpus 990 observations, 2026-09-06. Definitions in the glossary.