---
title: "Food Preparation Worker"
description: "Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-preparation-worker"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Food Preparation Worker

**Category:** Food Preparation and Serving Related · **SOC code:** 35-2021 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 35-2021.00

Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea.

Also advertised as: Cook; Cook Aide; Deli Clerk (Delicatessen Clerk); Diet Aide; Dietary Aide; Food Prep (Food Preparer); Food Service Aide; Food Service Worker (FSW).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $35,320 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $16.98/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $25,810 to $45,340, with the middle half between $29,950 and $38,550
- **Total US employment:** 893,600
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -3.4% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 148,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 893,600 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $25,810 |
| 25th | $29,950 |
| 50th (median) | $35,320 |
| 75th | $38,550 |
| 90th | $45,340 |
| Mean (average) | $35,290 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $40,910 | $38,229 | 19,510 |
| DC | $39,600 | $36,032 | 3,970 |
| CA | $39,350 | $35,540 | 112,750 |
| CO | $38,960 | $37,806 | 12,080 |
| MA | $38,900 | $36,782 | 13,620 |
| HI | $38,160 | $34,706 | 5,950 |
| OR | $37,450 | $36,232 | 11,860 |
| ND | $36,800 | $41,367 | 980 |
| NH | $36,780 | $35,309 | 3,420 |
| AZ | $36,750 | $36,503 | 16,590 |
| CT | $36,650 | $35,373 | 12,250 |
| VT | $36,550 | $37,312 | 1,350 |
| WY | $36,110 | $38,957 | 1,620 |
| ME | $36,030 | $37,125 | 4,560 |
| DE | $35,930 | $35,999 | 2,400 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-preparation-worker/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/food-preparation-worker.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 902,700 in the 2024–2034 base year to 871,800 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 30,900 jobs, or -3.4%. Declining: -3.4% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 148,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 69.5% |
| Some College Courses | 22.4% |
| Doctoral Degree | 4.2% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 2.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 1.2% |

## What the work involves

- Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware.
- Carry food supplies, equipment, and utensils to and from storage and work areas.
- Remove trash and clean kitchen garbage containers.
- Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage.
- Inform supervisors when equipment is not working properly and when food and supplies are getting low, and order needed items.
- Receive and store food supplies, equipment, and utensils in refrigerators, cupboards, and other storage areas.
- Weigh or measure ingredients.
- Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Service Orientation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Food Production — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 1.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Trunk Strength — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.40 |
| C — Conventional | 4.18 |
| S — Social | 2.71 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.23 |
| A — Artistic | 1.90 |
| I — Investigative | 1.35 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 80.8 |
| ISFJ | 77.1 |
| ESTJ | 74.0 |
| ISTP | 64.7 |
| ESFJ | 63.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Cook, Restaurant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-restaurant) — median $37,390
- [Cook, Short Order](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-short-order) — median $35,880
- [Fast Food and Counter Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fast-food-and-counter-worker) — median $31,200
- [Cook, Institution and Cafeteria](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-institution-and-cafeteria) — median $37,450
- [Butcher and Meat Cutter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/butcher-and-meat-cutter) — median $40,140
- [Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendant and Bartender Helper](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dining-room-and-cafeteria-attendant-and-bartender-helper) — median $33,980
- [Baker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/baker) — median $37,160
- [Food Server, Nonrestaurant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-server-nonrestaurant) — median $35,360
- [Cook, Fast Food](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cook-fast-food) — median $30,890
- [Barista](https://nuecareer.com/careers/barista) — median $31,200

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 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/careers/food-preparation-worker