Cooks, Restaurant Average Salary in South Carolina
$35,610 average · $35,610 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 35-2014What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Cooks, Restaurant in South Carolina, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. For tipped roles, venue economics dominate — the same skills earn multiples more at a high-volume, high-check establishment. For kitchen roles, the ladder from line cook through sous chef to kitchen manager is the pay path, and it is climbed by demonstrated reliability more than credentials. Hotel and institutional food service generally out-pays restaurants at equivalent levels and adds benefits.
How much do Cooks, Restaurant make in South Carolina?
The average cooks, restaurant salary in South Carolina is $35,610 per year. That works out to about $17.12 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 25,890 cooks, restaurant jobs in South Carolina.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $35,610. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $35,610; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $35,610 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Food Preparation and Serving Careers Are Structured
Food service is the largest low-wage occupational group in the country, and also one where the published data most understates true variation: tipped earnings are inconsistently captured, so wages for servers and bartenders in busy, high-priced markets can run far above the recorded figures, while quiet-market wages match them.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how cooks, restaurant pay is distributed in South Carolina specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
For tipped roles, venue economics dominate — the same skills earn multiples more at a high-volume, high-check establishment. For kitchen roles, the ladder from line cook through sous chef to kitchen manager is the pay path, and it is climbed by demonstrated reliability more than credentials. Hotel and institutional food service generally out-pays restaurants at equivalent levels and adds benefits.
Entry is immediate and the skills are learned working. The realistic financial trajectories are: into supervision (the first-line supervisor premium over crew wages is visible and substantial in this data), into institutional settings with benefits, or out — food service experience transfers credibly into sales, customer success, and operations roles with stronger distributions.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
Critical Worker ShortageBright Outlook
Cooks, Restaurant is experiencing a critical labor shortage. Employers are actively competing for qualified candidates.
What Do Cooks, Restaurant Do?
Cooks, Restaurant positions belong to the food preparation and serving field. Food service is the largest low-wage occupational group in the country, and also one where the published data most understates true variation: tipped earnings are inconsistently captured, so wages for servers and bartenders in busy, high-priced markets can run far above the recorded figures, while quiet-market wages match them.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 35-2014
Cooks, Restaurant pay in South Carolina
In South Carolina, cooks, restaurant report a median of $35,610 (about $17.12/hour) across roughly 25,890 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $35,610 at the 10th percentile to $35,610 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons South Carolina wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in South Carolina
Prices in South Carolina run 6% below the national average (RPP 93.7). So a nominal salary of $35,610 has the buying power of about $37,984 in national terms.
South Carolina vs. United States for Cooks, Restaurant
The median cooks, restaurant salary in South Carolina is $35,610, which is -7.7% below the national median of $38,600 (mean pay is -8.0% below the U.S. mean of $38,701). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, South Carolina ranks #37 by median wage for this occupation. South Carolina accounts for about 0.3% of U.S. cooks, restaurant employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Cooks, Restaurant in South Carolina of $35,610 falls in the Low-income band of this framework - roughly ~18% of the U.S. population and ~25% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Skills & What You Do
No formal educational credential typically required
- Prepare and cook menu items
- Maintain kitchen sanitation
- Monitor food quality
- Estimate ingredient needs
Top Industries for Cooks, Restaurant
| $41,505 | $39,640 | $20 | 99,850 | |
| $38,517 | $37,428 | $19 | 4,964,860 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 43-6014 • 86% match | $49,337 | $49,060 | $24 | 10,024,720 |
| $46,484 | $45,960 | $22 | 6,560,700 | |
SOC: 33-9032 • 86% match | $42,595 | $42,070 | $20 | 7,593,360 |
SOC: 37-3011 • 84% match | $42,430 | $42,750 | $20 | 5,537,570 |
| Find Occupation 37 3011 Jobs | ||||
SOC: 53-7065 • 85% match | $39,579 | $39,440 | $19 | 14,316,800 |
| $39,122 | $38,760 | $19 | 12,706,340 | |
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Viewing: Cooks, Restaurant (SOC: 35-2014)