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The national median salary for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders is $41,600 per year ($20.00/hr) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. The middle 50% of earners make between $36,192 and $47,382 annually. Top earners at the 90th percentile reach $54,413 per year. There are approximately 31,250 food cooking machine operators and tenders employed in the United States.
About This Role
BLS Standard Occupational Classification 2018
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
Career Outlook
BLS Employment Projections · 2024-2034
10-year growth
+0.6%
Little or no change
Annual openings
4K
per year, on avg
Workforce today
30K
as of 2024
Why those openings exist
0% from new growth100% from people leaving the role
Most openings come from replacement, not growth. Retention matters more than recruiting here.
Typical entry requirements
Education
High school diploma or equivalent
Experience
None
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training
Industry Wage Breakdown
Top 5 industries by employment · median annual wage, sector-specific
Industry
Workforce
Median Pay
Other Food Manufacturing
NAICS 311900
7K
$45,560
Animal Slaughtering and Processing
NAICS 311600
6K
$45,120
Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Specialty Food Manufacturing
NAICS 311400
5K
$41,830
Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing
NAICS 311800
4K
$39,270
Restaurants and Other Eating Places
NAICS 722500
2K
$36,740
Wage range across top 5 industries: $36,740 to $45,560 (24% spread)
Wage Percentiles
Hourly & annualized (2,080 hours)
Percentile
Hourly Rate
Annual Salary
P10
$15.23
$31,678
P25
$17.40
$36,192
P50MEDIAN
$20.00
$41,600
P75
$22.78
$47,382
P90
$26.16
$54,413
Market Context Signal
JOLTS · manufacturing sector
Stable
Openings Rate
3.5%
Quits Rate
1.4%
Manufacturing openings ticked up to 462K (+19K) in March, with the rate at 3.5%. Hires rose to 310K. The sector has stabilized after late-2025 softening.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average food cooking machine operators and tenders salary?
The national median salary for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders is $41,600 per year ($20.00/hr) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 data. The middle 50% earn between $36,192 and $47,382 annually.
How much do top-earning food cooking machine operators and tenders make?
The 90th percentile salary for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders is $54,413 per year ($26.16/hr). The 75th percentile is $47,382 per year.
What is the entry-level salary for food cooking machine operators and tenders?
Entry-level Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders (10th percentile) earn approximately $31,678 per year ($15.23/hr). The 25th percentile is $36,192 per year.
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. OEWS surveys roughly 1.1 million establishments annually. It is the most comprehensive employer-reported wage dataset in the United States.
P10 through P90 percentiles represent the wage distribution across all surveyed employers (not self-reported by workers). Geographic adjustments use BLS-derived cost multipliers calibrated from regional wage variation.
Wages are estimates. Individual compensation depends on experience, education, employer size, industry, and negotiation. Use this as benchmark context, not absolute ground truth.
CompSignal is a free labor market intelligence tool built for HR, compensation, and talent acquisition teams. We make BLS data, the same primary source Mercer and Radford cross-reference in their paid surveys, searchable and actionable without an enterprise subscription.
Built and maintained by Falcon Incentives, a compensation strategy and incentive design consultancy.