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Average Cooks, Short Order Salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Cooks, Short Order in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA earn a median annual salary of $45,990, which is +28.2% compared to the national median. There are 1,660 workers employed locally in this occupation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 estimates for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (metro area).

$45,990
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median annual wage
$22/hour median
+28.2%
Difference vs national median
National median is $35,880
1,660
Local employment
1.5 jobs per 1,000 workers
1.64
Location quotient
Above 1.00 means the occupation is more concentrated here than nationally
Pay distribution

Local wage range

10th
$40,250
25th
$43,010
Median
$45,990
75th
$46,990
90th
$50,890

All values are percentiles of annual wages.

This local range is the useful part of the page. The median tells you the center of the market in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, while the percentile band shows how compressed or wide the local pay distribution actually is.

Regional price parity

Cost-of-living context

All-items regional price parity
110.4%
Exact metro RPP match
Median wage adjusted to the national price level
$41,649
Goods: 105.2%
Services: 156.7%
Rents: 211.9%
Comparison links

Comparable metros for this occupation

Metro Median annual wage Compare Employment
Corvallis, OR $54,020 Compare 50
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA $50,870 Compare 830
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ $50,180 Compare N/A
Kahului-Wailuku, HI $48,140 Compare 110
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA $46,450 Compare 700
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA $45,790 Compare 4,430

The point of this table is not random nearby places. It is to show the other labor markets where this same occupation looks stronger or weaker on the same OEWS release.

Area context

Top occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has salary data for 592 occupations. The highest-paid occupation in this area is Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric.

Historical series

Trend for Cooks, Short Order in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Historical trend data is not yet available for this occupation in this area.

Interpretation

Outlook and page notes

Nationally, Cooks, Short Order are projected to change by -5.6% from 2024 to 2034, with 20,600 annual openings.

Use this page to answer three separate questions: what the occupation pays here, how large the local market is, and whether this market is unusually concentrated for the occupation.

For metro pages in particular, read long-term trend rows as directional until the area comparability layer is fully wired. OEWS area definitions can change over time, and that matters more at the metro level than at the state level.