Markets Occupations Waiters and Waitresses

Waiters and Waitresses — Employment

Occupation metric · SOC 35-3031 · Food Preparation & Serving Related · BLS OEWS · Annual · National

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Latest reading May 2025

2.27M −1.38%down YoY
Atlanta
45,880 May 2025

Employment · BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) · National · May 2021 – May 2025

Waiters and Waitresses — Employment, National. 5 observations from May 2021 to May 2025.
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What's happening with Waiters and Waitresses

Employment for Waiters and Waitresses in the U.S. is 2,270,910 (May 2025), down 1.38% from a year earlier. Median annual pay is $35,230.

Source: BLS OEWS · May 2025

Answers draw on jobgetr.ai market data. Every answer names its source and data period.

Key Stats

Latest2,270,910 personsMay 2025
Prior Year2,302,6902024
Year Change−1.38%downYoY
3-Yr Change+7.01%upsince 2022
Food Preparation & Serving Related13,680,750May 2025
All Occupations155,495,730May 2025
Atlanta Reading45,880May 2025
Observations52021 – 2025
SOC Code35-3031
Occupation FamilyFood Preparation & Serving Related35-0000

Other Measures for Waiters and Waitresses National

Median Annual Pay $35,230 +4.35%up YoYMay 2025
Mean Annual Pay $40,060 +4.43%up YoYMay 2025
P10 Pay $18,100 −2.16%down YoYMay 2025
P25 Pay $27,750 +8.02%up YoYMay 2025
P75 Pay $47,110 +3.88%up YoYMay 2025
P90 Pay $64,720 +3.54%up YoYMay 2025

Job Economy Report the market around this measure · National

All Occupations — Employment

155.5M
+0.85%up YoY

benchmark · National

Related Occupations same family · National

OccupationEmploymentYoY
Cooks, Restaurant 35-2014 1,409,890 −2.91%down

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  • Compensation the published pay distribution, 10th to 90th percentile
  • Demand employment and its change from a year earlier
  • Employment concentration jobs per 1,000 and the location quotient
  • Atlanta vs. national the same measures side by side where Atlanta publishes them
  • Hiring conditions market-wide openings, hires, quits and layoffs

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Performance Overview change over each horizon the series supports

Employment · 1 Year

−1.38%down

May 2025

  • Food Preparation & Serving Related +0.49%up
  • All occupations +0.85%up

Employment · 3 Year

+7.01%up

since 2022

Data & Methodology

Source BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
Dataset bls.oews
Reference Period May 2025
Frequency Annual
Seasonal Adjustment Not stated
Geography National
Unit persons
Metric ID bls.oews.employment.soc_35_3031
Observations 5
Last Fetched moments ago
SOC Code 35-3031
Role Page Waiters and Waitresses
Description Source O*NET 30.1 Database (O*NET-SOC 35-3031.00)

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JobGetr has not modified the occupation description.

National is the default geography. Atlanta Beta covers msa:12060 only.

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