Cooks, Short Order
Also called: Cook, Grill Cook, Line Cook, Short Order CookPrepare and cook to order a variety of foods that require only a short preparation time. May take orders from customers and serve patrons at counters or tables.
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What the data says: AI couldn't halve the time on any of its 11 tasks, and jobs are projected to shrink 5.2% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 8.0% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cooks”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 10.1 hires for every 10 job openings in accommodation and food services, which employs about 79% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.10.1 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $22,330 | $21,220 to $28,800 | not published |
| Alaska | $37,780 | $37,650 to $41,230 | 330 |
| Arizona | $46,630 | $36,080 to $50,180 | 1,880 |
| Arkansas | $30,510 | $27,940 to $34,260 | 160 |
| California | $42,930 | $38,250 to $45,020 | 30,740 |
| Colorado | $42,450 | $35,220 to $45,760 | 1,900 |
| Connecticut | $42,450 | $39,970 to $45,400 | not published |
| Delaware | $38,500 | $35,980 to $42,810 | not published |
| District of Columbia | $42,450 | $39,650 to $42,570 | 1,910 |
| Florida | $34,240 | $33,260 to $35,210 | 5,050 |
| Georgia | $26,870 | $21,430 to $37,430 | 3,870 |
| Guam | $23,080 | $23,080 to $25,100 | 40 |
| Hawaii | $43,110 | $38,600 to $46,620 | 460 |
| Idaho | $40,090 | $27,060 to $45,640 | 120 |
| Illinois | $37,440 | $34,700 to $38,280 | 2,630 |
| Indiana | $21,940 | $21,440 to $31,240 | 2,940 |
| Iowa | $34,090 | $30,840 to $37,690 | 1,160 |
| Kansas | $27,400 | $26,530 to $28,250 | 640 |
| Kentucky | $31,840 | $26,430 to $39,040 | 650 |
| Louisiana | $26,260 | $20,990 to $35,420 | 1,990 |
| Maine | $35,360 | $34,190 to $37,680 | 1,120 |
| Maryland | $36,800 | $36,090 to $43,010 | 3,250 |
| Massachusetts | $44,290 | $33,620 to $50,690 | 4,760 |
| Michigan | $34,510 | $30,300 to $36,450 | 2,560 |
| Minnesota | $32,150 | $24,750 to $39,090 | 870 |
| Mississippi | $28,180 | $22,290 to $30,560 | 1,890 |
| Missouri | $38,490 | $32,150 to $38,490 | not published |
| Montana | $33,240 | $32,560 to $33,710 | not published |
| Nebraska | $30,530 | $28,080 to $36,080 | 1,810 |
| Nevada | $37,780 | $29,070 to $40,430 | 790 |
| New Hampshire | $32,330 | $28,820 to $36,730 | 2,320 |
| New Jersey | $40,720 | $36,360 to $46,900 | 850 |
| New Mexico | $37,150 | $33,130 to $39,290 | 750 |
| New York | $35,550 | $33,870 to $42,800 | 18,300 |
| North Carolina | $31,290 | $27,990 to $34,700 | 3,170 |
| Ohio | $29,290 | $23,930 to $34,290 | 6,000 |
| Oklahoma | $35,130 | $30,840 to $36,010 | 760 |
| Oregon | $38,550 | $35,470 to $40,250 | 1,780 |
| Pennsylvania | $19,910 | $17,150 to $31,360 | 3,510 |
| Puerto Rico | $22,500 | $21,850 to $22,690 | 1,640 |
| Rhode Island | $46,250 | $41,850 to $46,700 | not published |
| South Carolina | $29,640 | $25,280 to $33,280 | 900 |
| South Dakota | $32,380 | $29,590 to $36,750 | 2,000 |
| Tennessee | $30,210 | $26,780 to $36,350 | 2,510 |
| Texas | $25,320 | $23,140 to $31,070 | 7,540 |
| Utah | $38,010 | $34,280 to $44,970 | 320 |
| Vermont | $38,830 | $36,080 to $46,320 | 670 |
| Virginia | $31,200 | $27,830 to $36,380 | 3,350 |
| Washington | $42,760 | $36,000 to $50,870 | 1,700 |
| West Virginia | $27,440 | $24,380 to $31,380 | 620 |
| Wisconsin | $28,130 | $27,440 to $32,590 | 2,270 |
Nationally: $35,880. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on none of its 11 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Clean food preparation equipment, work areas, and counters or tables. | Not published |
| Not much | Restock kitchen supplies, rotate food, and stamp the time and date on food in coolers. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform food preparation tasks, such as making sandwiches, carving meats, making soups or salads, baking breads or desserts, and brewing coffee or tea. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform general cleaning activities in kitchen and dining areas. | Not published |
| Not much | Grill, cook, and fry foods such as french fries, eggs, and pancakes. | under 0.01% |
| Not much | Complete orders from steam tables, placing food on plates and serving customers at tables or counters. | Not published |
See all 11 tasks
| Not much | Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time. | Not published |
| Not much | Grill and garnish hamburgers or other meats, such as steaks and chops. | Not published |
| Not much | Take orders from customers and cook foods requiring short preparation times, according to customer requirements. | Not published |
| Not much | Order supplies and stock them on shelves. | Not published |
| Not much | Accept payments, and make change or write charge slips as necessary. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 1 of the 11 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 11 tasks fall under 8 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
- #36 Purchase goods or services
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare foods or beverages | |||
| Execute financial transactions | |||
| Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas | |||
| Stock supplies or products | |||
| Purchase goods or services | |||
| Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures | |||
| Provide food or beverage services | |||
| Replenish inventories of materials, equipment, or products |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- A recipe or meal plan68%
- An explanation or answer19%
- Advice or a recommendation13%
- An academic paper or thesis0%
- An analysis or summary0%
How they worked with Claude
2% of these conversations were about work. Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026.
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for cooks, short order specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 19,385 moves out
- 1 Cooks, Restaurant Moderate +12.1% 15%
- 2 Food Service Managers Moderate +5.8% 5%
- 3 Chefs and Head Cooks Moderate +6.6% 5%
- 4 Fast Food and Counter Workers Moderate +5.8% 3%
- 5 Waiters and Waitresses Moderate +2.0% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 13,671 moves in
- 1 Cooks, Restaurant Moderate +12.1% 21%
- 2 Fast Food and Counter Workers Moderate +5.8% 6%
- 3 Cashiers High -6.5% 5%
- 4 Waiters and Waitresses Moderate +2.0% 5%
- 5 Food Service Managers Moderate +5.8% 5%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 14% less than high school
- 66% high school
- 7% postsecondary certificate
- 9% some college
- 2% associate's
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 22 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 28% less than high school
- 42% high school
- 19% some college
- 5% associate's
- 5% bachelor's
- 1% master's
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cooks” · 20,501 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cooks”
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
33.5% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| a license | <0.5% | 19.1% |
| a certification | <0.5% | 5.8% |
| an educational certificate | <0.5% | 2.8% |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
See it online, and explore any career: https://www.pathmosaic.com/card/35-2015.00