--- title: "Culinary Jobs" description: "Careers in food and drink: chefs and cooks, pastry and specialty food makers, food scientists, sommeliers and the people who run kitchens. Careers…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/culinary-jobs" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Culinary Jobs Careers in food and drink: chefs and cooks, pastry and specialty food makers, food scientists, sommeliers and the people who run kitchens. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages. 37 occupations, in the ranked order the career bank computed. Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth figures are BLS Employment Projections and education is the BLS "typical education needed for entry". | # | Occupation | Median annual wage | Projected growth | Typical education | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | [Flavorist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/flavorist) | $88,720 | +6.2% | Bachelor's | | 2 | [Food Scientist and Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-scientist-and-technologist) | $88,720 | +6.2% | Bachelor's | | 3 | [Research Chef](https://nuecareer.com/careers/research-chef) | $88,720 | +6.2% | Bachelor's | | 4 | [Sensory Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sensory-scientist) | $88,720 | +6.2% | Bachelor's | | 5 | [Beverage Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/beverage-director) | $69,390 | +5.8% | High school | | 6 | [Food Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-service-manager) | $69,390 | +5.8% | High school | | 7 | [Restaurant Director of Operations](https://nuecareer.com/careers/restaurant-director-of-operations) | $69,390 | +5.8% | High school | | 8 | [Sommelier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sommelier) | $69,390 | +5.8% | High school | | 9 | [Chef](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chef) | $62,470 | +6.6% | High school | | 10 | [Corporate Executive Chef](https://nuecareer.com/careers/corporate-executive-chef) | $62,470 | +6.6% | High school | | 11 | [Food Science Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-science-technician) | $52,130 | +4.8% | Associate's | | 12 | [Winemaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/winemaker) | $52,130 | +4.8% | Bachelor's | | 13 | [Brewmaster](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brewmaster) | $51,610 | -5.7% | High school | | 14 | [Distiller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/distiller) | $51,610 | -5.7% | High school | | 15 | [Cook, Private Household](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-private-household) | $47,940 | +5.1% | Certificate | | 16 | [Food Stylist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-stylist) | $47,940 | +5.1% | Certificate | | 17 | [Yacht Chef](https://nuecareer.com/careers/yacht-chef) | $47,940 | +5.1% | Certificate | | 18 | [First-Line Supervisor of Food Preparation and Serving Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-food-preparation-and-serving-workers) | $44,080 | +5.4% | High school | | 19 | [Cheesemaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cheesemaker) | $42,290 | +6.5% | High school | | 20 | [Food Batchmaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-batchmaker) | $42,290 | +6.5% | High school | | 21 | [Butcher and Meat Cutter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/butcher-and-meat-cutter) | $40,140 | +2.4% | No formal credential | | 22 | [Cook, Institution and Cafeteria](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-institution-and-cafeteria) | $37,450 | +2.8% | No formal credential | | 23 | [Cook, Restaurant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-restaurant) | $37,390 | +12.1% | No formal credential | | 24 | [Baker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/baker) | $37,160 | +5.5% | No formal credential | | 25 | [Chocolatier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chocolatier) | $37,160 | +5.5% | No formal credential | | 26 | [Pastry Chef](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pastry-chef) | $37,160 | +5.5% | No formal credential | | 27 | [Cook, Short Order](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-short-order) | $35,880 | -5.2% | No formal credential | | 28 | [Cheesemonger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cheesemonger) | $35,410 | -0.3% | No formal credential | | 29 | [Food Preparation Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-preparation-worker) | $35,320 | -3.0% | No formal credential | | 30 | [Cook, Fast Food](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-fast-food) | $30,890 | +0.6% | No formal credential | | 31 | [Private Club General Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/private-club-general-manager) | $105,770 | +5.0% | Bachelor's | | 32 | [Cultivated Meat Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cultivated-meat-scientist) | $88,720 | +6.2% | Master's | | 33 | [Fermentation Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fermentation-scientist) | $87,990 | +6.2% | Bachelor's | | 34 | [Viticulturist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/viticulturist) | $78,850 | +6.7% | Bachelor's | | 35 | [Sports Dietitian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sports-dietitian) | $76,400 | +7.7% | Master's | | 36 | [Franchise Development Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/franchise-development-manager) | $69,990 | +2.7% | High school | | 37 | [Ice Sculptor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ice-sculptor) | $46,080 | +2.0% | No formal credential | Full record for any row, including wage percentiles and state-level pay: https://nuecareer.com/careers/{slug} or https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/{slug}. --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/collections/culinary-jobs