Fast Food and Counter Workers in the United States earn a median of $31,200 a year. Pay starts near $22,840. The national 90th percentile is $42,650. This page does not publish a state top-of-range figure.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Fast Food and Counter Workers, SOC 35-3023). Employment 3,854,050. Last checked 22 September 2026. National percentiles via the BLS OEWS release as republished on O*NET OnLine wage tables.
Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025 (Fast Food and Counter Workers). Entry is the national 10th percentile. The top chip is the national 90th percentile, not a state. The middle half of workers earns $27,700 to $36,070. Hourly equivalents: $10.98, $15.00, and $20.51. O*NET respondents most often said less than a high school diploma is required (56 percent). That is what employers told O*NET, not a separate Bureau credential rule. The marker on the exposure bar is PayCrunch editorial context, not a BLS statistic. Updated 22 September 2026.
Accept payment, serve customers in places built for fast service and inexpensive food, and record the order.
AI tools that fit Fast Food Worker work September 2026
A short list of general tools. This is not a sponsored placement, not a weekly crawl, and not a product review with prices. Use whatever your employer already allows.
A general assistant for plain-language notes.
How a Fast Food Worker uses it: Turn a rush-hour handoff into steps a new counter worker can follow, then match them to the store's own sheet.
AI inside Excel and Outlook.
How a Fast Food Worker uses it: Summarize a week of void or remake notes before you hand them to a shift lead.
Google's assistant in Search and Workspace.
How a Fast Food Worker uses it: Check a published food-safety step only from a source you can name, not from a guess.
Fast food worker: the order, the till, and SOC 35-3023
Fast food and counter workers are SOC 35-3023. The locked chips are entry $22,840, median $31,200, and a national 90th percentile of $42,650. BLS counted 3,854,050 wage-and-salary workers in this occupation in May 2025. The barista page on this site uses the same SOC. Its top chip is the California 90th percentile, $47,950. This page does not. The top chip here is the national 90th percentile.
The published band is narrow
The middle half earns $27,700 to $36,070. From the median $31,200 to the national 90th percentile $42,650 is $11,450 a year. Trainer, opener, and shift-lead duties sit inside that step. This page does not invent a state where the 90th percentile is higher.
What the counter actually checks
A clean order names the item, the modification, and the payment. A void without a reason is a hole in the drawer. The kiosk does not clear an allergy note or a coupon the machine rejects.
Outlook
O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 as faster than average (5 to 6 percent). O*NET projects about 904,300 openings a year over 2024–2034 because people leave the job as well as because employment grows. A growth label is not a raise.
Locked wage chips on this page: entry $22,840, median $31,200, national 90th percentile $42,650. SOC 35-3023. If a sentence disagrees with those three figures, the figures win.
How to do the work that sits inside this pay band
These steps stay inside the published national range. They are not a promise that you will be paid the 90th percentile.
A missed modification becomes a remake.
Turn this order note into a three-step counter routine. Do not add a discount or a policy I did not paste.A number without a cause gets counted again tomorrow.
Rewrite this till note so a shift lead can see the amount, the likely transaction, and what is still unknown.Every override is a record.
List the questions I should ask before I override this kiosk prompt. Do not invent a store policy I did not paste.Careers related to Fast Food Worker
Similar pay, same field
- Barista $31,200
- Cashier $32,880
- Waiter Waitress $35,230
- Retail Salesperson $35,410
- Fast Food Cook $30,890
- Food Prep Worker $35,320
Where this can lead
- Line Cook $37,390
- Food Service Supervisor $44,080
Wages in this list are the national medians printed on those pages. Every new page in this batch uses BLS OEWS May 2025. The step from this median to the national 90th percentile is $11,450.
Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).
Paste only facts you already have: a count, a date, a step, a file name. If the draft adds a number, a policy, or a product you did not provide, delete it.
Do not paste account numbers, full customer records, patient information, or anything your employer has told you to keep inside its own system.
TODO: PC_GEAR is not filled in this batch. No product links and no ASINs until a reviewed list exists. Do not invent ASINs.
TODO: state-wage table is not filled in this batch. The chips above are national OEWS May 2025 percentiles only. State medians are not estimated here.
Sources
- BLS OEWS — Fast Food and Counter Workers (SOC 35-3023)
- O*NET OnLine summary for 35-3023.00 (2025 wages and 2024–2034 outlook category)
- Salary (10th, 25th, median, 75th, 90th) — national BLS OEWS May 2025.
- Employment — national OEWS May 2025 wage-and-salary employment, 3,854,050.
- Outlook — O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 as faster than average (5 to 6 percent). Projected openings: about 904,300 a year.
- Not on this page — state wages, metro wages, and product recommendations.
Check another occupation
These ten pages are the next high-employment OEWS lines that were missing as their own salary URLs.