Cooking Career Statistics

Considering a career in the culinary arts? Add these quick numbers to your mix of knowledge.

  • Roughly 30% of restaurant sales are to international visitors and other travelers.
  • A quarter of food and beverage workers are between the ages of 16 and 19; about 37% of all cooks and food service workers are under the age of 24.
  • Chefs, cooks and other food preparation workers hold about 3.1 million positions in the U.S. A third of these positions are part-time.
  • Cooks (institutional, restaurant, private household, short order, fast food, and other) hold the majority of food service positions with 2.9 million jobs; chefs and head cooks hold roughly 115,000 positions; and food service preparatory workers hold one million jobs.
  • Nevada currently has the highest concentration of chefs and head cooks, while New York pays the most for chefs and head cooks — on average about $51,340.
  • More than 40% of American adults have worked in the restaurant industry at at least one point in their lives.
  • Nine out of ten restaurants employ fewer than 50 people.*
  • The food service industry is the largest private-sector employer in the United States, and is second in employment only to the government.
  • The United States’ restaurant industry had more than $558 billion in sales in 2008, and the National Restaurant Association forecasts that sales will climb to $556 billion in 2009.*
  • There are nearly one million restaurants in the United States.
  • Two-thirds of food preparation workers have jobs in restaurants. Fifteen percent work in schools, universities, hospitals, nursing homes or other institutions.

*According to the 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast, published by the National Restaurant Association