Restaurants & Food Services

Industry Group

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Workforce Population

9.2M

2021

Average Employee Age

31.6

2021

Estimated Job Growth

7.27%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$23,807

2021

Average Male Salary

$27,811

2021

Average Female Salary

$20,197

2021

About

The top three occupations in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group are waiters & waitresses, cooks, and food service managers. On average, full-time employees in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group work 42.9 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $35,652. Part-time employees in the same industry work 21.8 hours and earn an average annual salary of $11,494.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group are Elmhurst & South Corona PUMA, NY, LA City (Central/Koreatown) PUMA, CA, and Sunset Park & Windsor Terrace PUMA, NY.

The workforce of Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group in 2021 was 9,201,069 people, with 52.6% woman, and 47.4% men.

In 2021, 62.7% of the workforce in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group was White (5,772,683 people), of which 54.1% were women and 45.9% men.

Photo by willowbrookhotels

Arts, Entertainment & Recreation and Accommodation & Food Services Accommodation & Food Services

Employment & Salaries

A snapshot of workforce, wages, and opportunities in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

The workforce in Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group was 9,201,069 people and is concentrated in California (1,129,247 workers). The average annual salary was $23,807, being $35,789 less than the national average salary, which was $59,596.

Monthly Employment

Showing data for the Leisure and Hospitality industry sector.

Start Year

Y-Axis

6.53%

Year-over-year growth

Employment change between February 2022 and February 2023

As of February 2023, there are 15.9M people employed in the Leisure and Hospitality industry. This represents a 6.53% increase in employment when compared to February 2022.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Leisure and Hospitality over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Employment by Location

The states that concentrated the largest workforce in 2021 were California (1.13M), Texas (856k), and Florida (655k).

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by workforce for Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

Yearly Wage Ranking

In 2021, Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group had an average annual wage of $23,807, $35,789 less than the average national salary of $59,596.

The graph shows the position of Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group in the ranking of industries by average annual wage.

Wage Distribution

0.494

WAGE GINI

Restaurants & Food Services has a wage GINI of 0.494, which is more than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Restaurants & Food Services (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group workers compared to the entire workforce in the country.

Occupations

A review of jobs and wages in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

Waiters & waitresses are the most common position with 1,852,796 workers, but the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group employs a relatively high number of Cooks and Food service managers.

The highest average salary in Restaurants & Food Services goes to Other Physical Scientists.

Occupations Distribution

The graph shows the distribution of employees in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group according to occupations. In 2021, the occupations that concentrated the largest number of employees in this industry were waiters & waitresses (1,852,796 people), cooks (1,609,179 people), and food service managers (857,541 people)

Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$27,811

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$453

$20,197

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$292

On average, Male workers in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group make 1.38 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

Business

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries.

The industrial flow illustrates the intermediate inputs and the use of outputs of the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

The Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry.

California and New York stand out as the states with the largest number of establishments in the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group.

Industrial Flow

The closest comparable data for Restaurants & Food Services is from Arts, Entertainment & Recreation and Accommodation & Food Services.

Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group is Professional and business services.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Intermediate Inputs

The closest comparable data for Restaurants & Food Services is from Arts, Entertainment & Recreation and Accommodation & Food Services.

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

Use of Output by Other Industries

The closest comparable data for Restaurants & Food Services is from Arts, Entertainment & Recreation and Accommodation & Food Services.

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Professional and business services Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

Establishments

States with more establishments in 2016

California
158,672
New York
100,270
Texas
97,024

The charts shows the distribution of establishments in the Restaurants & Food Services industry by states and the number of establishments according to size.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Restaurants & Food Services Industry Group in the US.

Of the total workforce, 52.6% corresponds to women and 47.4% men. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $27,811 and $20,197.

78.6% of workers have a high school or equivalent, some college or secondary education.

Gender and Age

4,838,723

Women

52.6%

4,362,346

Men

47.4%

The workforce of Restaurants & Food Services industry in 2021 was 9,201,069 people, with 52.6% woman, and 47.4% men.

The visualization shows the distribution of the workforce by gender and age in Restaurants & Food Services industry.

Races

In 2021, 62.7% of the workforce in the Restaurants & Food Services industry was White (5,772,683 people), of which 54.1% were women and 45.9% men.

Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black and Other.

Educational Levels

The main educational levels achieved by the Restaurants & Food Services workers in 2021 were high school or equivalent (2,959,851 people), some college (2,507,145 people), and secondary education (1,761,278 people).

The chart shows the Restaurants & Food Services workforce by gender and educational level.

Projections

Growth projections of the Food services and drinking places industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 7.66% in the next ten years. The Food services and drinking places industry has a lower projected workforce growth at 7.27%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (21.4%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (24.2%).

Job Growth

For growth projections, the closest comparable industry reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is Food services and drinking places.

7.27%

Estimated Job Growth

10-year Projection

7.66%

National Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Food services and drinking places. This industry is expected to grow less than than 7.66%, the average rate of national job growth.