Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders Salary in the United States
The median annual wage for food cooking machine operators and tenders in the U.S. is $41,590 ($20.00 per hour), according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 estimates.
- Median annual wage
- $41,590
- Mean annual wage
- $42,570
- Median hourly wage
- $20.00
- Employment
- 31,250
31,250 employed
Wage percentiles
| Percentile | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $31,680 | $15.23 |
| 25th percentile | $36,190 | $17.40 |
| Median (50th) | $41,590 | $20.00 |
| 75th percentile | $47,380 | $22.78 |
| 90th percentile | $54,410 | $26.16 |
Highest-paying states for food cooking machine operators and tenders
| State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | $51,100 | 310 |
| Utah | $48,620 | 390 |
| Massachusetts | $47,960 | 170 |
| Iowa | $47,900 | 850 |
| Michigan | $47,260 | 380 |
| Minnesota | $47,250 | 1,410 |
| Colorado | $46,900 | 300 |
| Kansas | $45,850 | 750 |
| New York | $45,680 | 1,300 |
| Tennessee | $45,620 | 1,820 |
Lowest-paying states
- Alabama: $27,080 median annual wage
- Mississippi: $31,150 median annual wage
- Delaware: $31,240 median annual wage
- Texas: $33,980 median annual wage
- Virginia: $35,140 median annual wage
About this occupation
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
Typical tasks
- Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.
- Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
- Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
- Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
- Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.
- Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.
Education of the current workforce — typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| Less than high school diploma | 24.2% |
| High school diploma or equivalent | 47.2% |
| Some college, no degree | 17.9% |
| Associate's degree | 4.1% |
| Bachelor's degree | 4.9% |
| Master's degree | 1.3% |
| Doctoral or professional degree | 0.3% |
Occupation profile data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Related occupations
- Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$44,650
- First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers$74,450
- Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$48,570
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$53,750
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders$43,220
- Machinists$58,750
- Production Workers, All Other$40,110
- Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical Assemblers, Except Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers$45,850
About this data
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics — data period May 2025, retrieved August 13, 2026.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics — data period May 2025, retrieved August 13, 2026.
- CareerOneStop Occupation Profiles — data period 2026-08, retrieved August 14, 2026.
Figures are shown exactly as published by the source or derived by the documented formulas on our methodology page. Where a source suppresses an estimate, we show “—” rather than a substitute value.