Fast Food and Counter Workers Average Salary in United States
$32,226 average · $31,790 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 35-3023What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Fast Food and Counter Workers in United States, 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. Geographic minimum wages and franchise vs. corporate ownership explain most of the state variation. Shift lead and assistant manager differentials are the first meaningful raises inside the brand. Institutional and hospital food service often beats QSR on benefits even when base wages look similar.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make in United States?
The average fast food and counter workers salary in United States is $32,226 per year, with a median of $31,790. That works out to about $15.49 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 19,781,110 fast food and counter workers jobs in United States.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $31,790. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $31,630; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $32,800 — a 4% 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 Fast Food and Counter Workers Careers Are Structured
Fast food and counter workers prepare and serve limited-menu food in QSR, cafeterias, and counter-service formats. It is among the largest youth and first-job occupations in the country, with high turnover and schedule-driven hours.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how fast food and counter workers pay is distributed in United States 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
Geographic minimum wages and franchise vs. corporate ownership explain most of the state variation. Shift lead and assistant manager differentials are the first meaningful raises inside the brand. Institutional and hospital food service often beats QSR on benefits even when base wages look similar.
Entry is immediate. The realistic upgrades are supervision within food service, moves into institutional kitchens, or lateral transfers into retail and customer service with stronger mid-career distributions. Use the percentile chart to see how compressed the floor is — and how much the first supervisory step matters.
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.
What Do Fast Food and Counter Workers Do?
Fast Food and Counter Workers positions belong to the fast food and counter workers field. Fast food and counter workers prepare and serve limited-menu food in QSR, cafeterias, and counter-service formats. It is among the largest youth and first-job occupations in the country, with high turnover and schedule-driven hours.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 35-3023
Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in United States
In United States, fast food and counter workers report a median of $31,790 and an average of $32,226 (about $15.49/hour) across roughly 19,781,110 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $31,630 at the 10th percentile to $32,800 at the 90th.
National figures average across high-cost coastal metros and lower-cost inland markets, so individual state pages on Wage Atlas are usually the better reference for a specific offer.
Income reality check
The median salary for Fast Food and Counter Workers in United States of $31,790 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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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Fast Food and Counter Workers
| $35,622 | $35,459 | $17 | 452,680 | |
| $35,577 | $35,640 | $17 | 254,340 | |
SOC: 445000 | $34,400 | $34,720 | $17 | 134,820 |
| $31,770 | $30,757 | $15 | 10,068,420 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 43-4051 • 82% match | $46,601 | $46,590 | $22 | 13,746,580 |
| $39,122 | $38,760 | $19 | 12,706,340 | |
SOC: 41-2031 • 80% match | $37,302 | $37,310 | $18 | 19,723,450 |
SOC: 35-2000 • 83% match | $36,763 | $36,560 | $18 | 19,749,830 |
| Find Cooks and Food Preparation Workers Jobs | ||||
| $33,202 | $33,180 | $16 | 15,770,510 | |
SOC: 35-3020 • 88% match | $32,226 | $31,790 | $15 | 19,781,110 |
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Fast Food And Counter Workers in Other States
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