Lowest-Paying Jobs Statistics 2026
Cooks, Fast Food have the lowest national median wage of any occupation in the May 2025 OEWS release, at $30,890 a year. 98 of the 824 detailed occupations pay a median below $40,000, and 272 pay a median below $50,000.
Wage estimates: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The ranking and the counts are PayCrunch calculations from those estimates. OEWS covers wage and salary workers and excludes the self-employed.
Which US occupations pay least, from the 824 detailed occupations in the BLS OEWS May 2025 release. The table below is ranked from the lowest median wage upward and carries the entry and top-of-range figure for each occupation alongside it.
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Cooks, Fast Food have the lowest national median wage of any US occupation, at $30,890 a year (BLS, OEWS May 2025, via PayCrunch).
Key statistics
Each line is one figure with its source. Quote any of them directly; the citation format is at the foot of the page.
- Cooks, Fast Food have the lowest national median wage of any occupation in the release, at $30,890 a year.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- Next are hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop at $31,200 and fast food and counter workers at $31,200.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- 98 of the 824 detailed occupations have a national median wage below $40,000; 16 sit below $35,000.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- 272 occupations — 33.0% of the total — have a national median wage below $50,000.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- Food preparation and serving is the lowest-paid of the 22 SOC major groups, with a median of occupational medians of $35,360. Personal care and service is next at $38,165; healthcare support is at $44,910.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- 19 of the 25 lowest-paying occupations are in food service, personal care, cleaning, sales, healthcare support or agriculture.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- The 90th-percentile wage for cooks, fast food is $42,910 a year — the entire published range for that occupation stays under $43,000.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- 52 occupations have a national 90th-percentile wage below $50,000; 21 of the 25 lowest-paying occupations are in that set.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- The lowest 10th-percentile wage of any occupation in the release is $18,100 a year, for waiters and waitresses.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- The lowest-paying occupation's median is 18.1 times lower than the highest-paying occupation's.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- The narrowest published pay range of any occupation is $12,790 from the 10th percentile to the 90th, for farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
- The median of the 25 lowest occupational medians is $34,810 a year, against $61,340 for all 824 occupations.Source: PayCrunch calculation from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.
The 25 lowest-paying occupations by median wage
Ranked by national annual median, lowest first. 19 of the 25 sit in food service, personal care, cleaning, sales, healthcare support or agriculture. The lowest median in the release is $30,890 for cooks, fast food; the 25th-lowest is $35,360.
| Occupation▲ | SOC▲ | Entry (10th pct)▲ | Median▲ | Top of range (90th pct)▲ | Best-paying state▲ | 90th pct there▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooks, Fast Food | 35-2011 | $22,580 | $30,890 | $42,910 | District of Columbia | $51,260 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | 35-9031 | $22,340 | $31,200 | $43,990 | Hawaii | $62,560 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 35-3023 | $22,840 | $31,200 | $42,650 | California | $47,950 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | 39-3091 | $22,350 | $32,150 | $42,490 | Hawaii | $55,310 |
| Shampooers | 39-5093 | $23,110 | $32,600 | $38,240 | New Jersey | $47,370 |
| Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers, All Other | 39-3099 | $23,310 | $32,640 | $48,440 | California | $58,480 |
| Cashiers | 41-2011 | $24,530 | $32,880 | $40,410 | District of Columbia | $51,640 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | 39-3031 | $23,560 | $32,910 | $42,470 | Washington | $48,410 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | 33-9092 | $25,780 | $33,580 | $43,970 | Hawaii | $79,840 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | 35-9011 | $21,300 | $33,980 | $46,570 | Hawaii | $76,960 |
| Gambling Dealers | 39-3011 | $24,040 | $34,320 | $77,090 | Washington | $132,370 |
| Bartenders | 35-3011 | $20,110 | $34,340 | $73,770 | Hawaii | $117,540 |
| Dishwashers | 35-9021 | $26,200 | $34,810 | $42,860 | Hawaii | $61,160 |
| Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers | 51-6011 | $27,440 | $34,890 | $43,190 | Hawaii | $55,730 |
| Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners | 39-3012 | $22,090 | $34,980 | $48,270 | California | $50,970 |
| Childcare Workers | 39-9011 | $24,260 | $34,980 | $46,010 | District of Columbia | $56,790 |
| Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials | 51-6021 | $27,180 | $35,060 | $43,050 | New Jersey | $48,430 |
| Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks | 43-4081 | $27,120 | $35,070 | $45,470 | Hawaii | $69,310 |
| School Bus Monitors | 33-9094 | $28,130 | $35,100 | $43,250 | Ohio | $62,070 |
| Parking Attendants | 53-6021 | $27,040 | $35,150 | $44,550 | Illinois | $53,360 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 35-3031 | $18,100 | $35,230 | $64,720 | Hawaii | $119,870 |
| Physical Therapist Aides | 31-2022 | $25,360 | $35,240 | $47,780 | Indiana | $73,430 |
| Food Preparation Workers | 35-2021 | $25,810 | $35,320 | $45,340 | Hawaii | $57,720 |
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | 35-3041 | $28,030 | $35,360 | $46,120 | Hawaii | $68,170 |
| Animal Caretakers | 39-2021 | $27,250 | $35,360 | $50,060 | Arizona | $68,090 |
National figures, BLS OEWS May 2025. Ranked by median, lowest first.
Food service is the lowest-paid major group
Of the 22 SOC major groups, food preparation and serving has the lowest median of occupational medians at $35,360 across its 17 occupations. Its highest-paid occupation, chefs and head cooks, has a median of $62,470 — below the all-occupation median of $61,340. Only 1 of its 17 occupations pays above that all-occupation median.
The floor of the wage distribution
16 occupations have a national median below $35,000, 98 below $40,000 and 272 below $50,000 — 33.0% of the 824 occupations in the release. The lowest 10th-percentile wage of any occupation is $18,100, for waiters and waitresses.
Low-paying occupations also have narrow ranges. The narrowest published range in the release belongs to farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse, $12,790 from the 10th percentile to the 90th, against a median spread of 2.28x across all occupations.
Occupations whose published range never reaches $50,000
52 occupations have a national 90th-percentile wage below $50,000 — even the top of the published range stays under that line. 21 of the 25 lowest-paying occupations sit in that set.
| Occupation▲ | SOC▲ | Entry (10th pct)▲ | Median▲ | Top of range (90th pct)▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shampooers | 39-5093 | $23,110 | $32,600 | $38,240 |
| Cashiers | 41-2011 | $24,530 | $32,880 | $40,410 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | 39-3031 | $23,560 | $32,910 | $42,470 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | 39-3091 | $22,350 | $32,150 | $42,490 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 35-3023 | $22,840 | $31,200 | $42,650 |
| Dishwashers | 35-9021 | $26,200 | $34,810 | $42,860 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | 35-2011 | $22,580 | $30,890 | $42,910 |
| Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials | 51-6021 | $27,180 | $35,060 | $43,050 |
| Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers | 51-6011 | $27,440 | $34,890 | $43,190 |
| School Bus Monitors | 33-9094 | $28,130 | $35,100 | $43,250 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | 33-9092 | $25,780 | $33,580 | $43,970 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | 35-9031 | $22,340 | $31,200 | $43,990 |
| Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | 45-2041 | $29,580 | $35,730 | $44,490 |
| Parking Attendants | 53-6021 | $27,040 | $35,150 | $44,550 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 31-1120 | $27,040 | $35,800 | $45,040 |
| Food Preparation Workers | 35-2021 | $25,810 | $35,320 | $45,340 |
| Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks | 43-4081 | $27,120 | $35,070 | $45,470 |
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | 45-2092 | $32,900 | $35,660 | $45,690 |
| Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians | 53-3011 | $27,350 | $35,450 | $45,960 |
| Childcare Workers | 39-9011 | $24,260 | $34,980 | $46,010 |
| Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants | 53-6031 | $28,630 | $35,670 | $46,060 |
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | 35-3041 | $28,030 | $35,360 | $46,120 |
| Cooks, Short Order | 35-2015 | $23,440 | $35,880 | $46,460 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | 35-9011 | $21,300 | $33,980 | $46,570 |
| Passenger Attendants | 53-6061 | $27,970 | $37,720 | $46,590 |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | 53-7064 | $27,890 | $36,280 | $47,100 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | 35-9099 | $25,470 | $35,840 | $47,550 |
| Sewers, Hand | 51-6051 | $27,680 | $36,480 | $47,570 |
| Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment | 53-7061 | $27,380 | $35,830 | $47,610 |
| Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders | 51-6042 | $26,560 | $35,650 | $47,700 |
| Physical Therapist Aides | 31-2022 | $25,360 | $35,240 | $47,780 |
| Sewing Machine Operators | 51-6031 | $27,860 | $36,670 | $47,840 |
| Retail Salespersons | 41-2031 | $27,210 | $35,410 | $47,890 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 35-2014 | $28,700 | $37,390 | $47,900 |
| Food Processing Workers, All Other | 51-3099 | $32,210 | $39,680 | $47,950 |
| Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders | 51-6061 | $30,300 | $38,180 | $48,100 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | 51-3022 | $29,980 | $38,300 | $48,150 |
| Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners | 39-3012 | $22,090 | $34,980 | $48,270 |
| Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers, All Other | 39-3099 | $23,310 | $32,640 | $48,440 |
| Funeral Attendants | 39-4021 | $28,070 | $35,680 | $48,460 |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 37-2012 | $27,640 | $35,510 | $48,570 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | 39-9099 | $27,480 | $41,600 | $48,910 |
| Bakers | 51-3011 | $28,120 | $37,160 | $49,020 |
| Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 51-6063 | $29,960 | $39,530 | $49,130 |
| Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers | 31-9096 | $30,120 | $38,150 | $49,150 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 53-7065 | $30,110 | $37,330 | $49,260 |
| Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 51-6062 | $28,650 | $38,760 | $49,420 |
| Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 51-6064 | $31,790 | $38,670 | $49,420 |
| Gambling Cage Workers | 43-3041 | $29,100 | $37,580 | $49,430 |
| Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria | 35-2012 | $28,480 | $37,450 | $49,670 |
| Tellers | 43-3071 | $34,360 | $43,030 | $49,680 |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 43-4171 | $28,760 | $38,010 | $49,950 |
Occupations whose national 90th-percentile wage is below $50,000. BLS OEWS May 2025.
How to cite this page
Ready to paste for the page:
PayCrunch (2026). Lowest-Paying Jobs Statistics 2026. Aggregated from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://paycrunch.co/stats/lowest-paying-jobs-statistics.html (accessed 10 October 2026).
Ready to paste for the lead figure on this page:
Cooks, Fast Food have the lowest national median wage of any US occupation, at $30,890 a year (BLS, OEWS May 2025, via PayCrunch).
For any other figure, name the occupation and the release and credit the Bureau of Labor Statistics as well as PayCrunch: the wage estimates are theirs, and the aggregation is ours. Figures on this page were last recomputed on 10 October 2026 from the May 2025 release.
Method
Source
Every wage figure on this page comes from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release of May 2025, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. No figure here is a PayCrunch estimate. What PayCrunch contributes is the aggregation: the counts, medians, means and rankings across occupations are computed from that release and are labelled as PayCrunch calculations wherever they appear.
What the three figures mean
Entry is the annual 10th percentile wage for the occupation nationally. Median is the 50th percentile. Top of range is the annual 90th percentile — the wage level below which 90 percent of the estimated wage distribution for that occupation falls. None of the three is a maximum, a promise, or a statement about any individual.
The state figures
Where a state is named as best-paying, it is the state with the highest annual 90th-percentile wage among states that OEWS reports employing at least 500 people in that occupation. That employment floor is PayCrunch's rule, not the BLS's; it exists because unfiltered state estimates are frequently drawn from very small samples. The best-paying states dataset documents the floor in full and publishes the unfiltered answer alongside the filtered one for every occupation.
Rebuilding these numbers
The script that computes every figure on this page is .github/stats-engine/build_stats.py in the PayCrunch repository. It reads two files, /data/open/best-paying-states.json and the occupation page dataset, and regenerates all eight statistics pages. Nothing on this page is typed by hand.
Limitations
- OEWS is a survey. Every figure carries sampling error, and the error is largest where the occupation is smallest. BLS publishes relative standard errors alongside the estimates.
- These are occupational aggregates, not worker aggregates. Statistics here summarise the 824 occupation-level estimates, giving each occupation equal weight. They are not employment-weighted, so they do not describe the average American worker and should not be quoted as if they did.
- The 90th percentile is not a maximum. It is a point on a wage distribution. Pay above it exists.
- No cost-of-living adjustment. All figures are nominal annual wages.
- Wage and salary employment only. OEWS excludes the self-employed, so occupations with many independent workers are under-covered.
- SOC titles are classification labels, not job titles as employers use them, and one SOC code can cover several distinct jobs.
- One release only. These are May 2025 figures; OEWS releases are not straightforwardly comparable across years.
Frequently asked questions
Pay for individual occupations
PayCrunch pages for lower-paying occupations, each with its BLS entry, median and top-of-range figures.
The full dataset behind these figures is on the best-paying states page, and every occupation is queryable through the PayCrunch API. All occupation pages →