Salary Range & Percentiles
Pay distribution across experience levels
- 10th Percentile — Entry Level$18,100
- 25th Percentile — Junior$27,750
- 50th Percentile — Median$35,230
- 75th Percentile — Senior$47,110
- 90th Percentile — Top Earners$64,720
The top 10% of Waiters and Waitresses earn $64,720 or more per year. Entry-level professionals can expect to start around $18,100, with significant growth over the first 5 years.
What Waiters and Waitresses Do
Role, training and entry requirements
Waiters and waitresses take orders, serve food and drinks, explain menu items, process payments, and make sure guests have a good experience. They work in full-service restaurants, hotels, bars, catering, and private clubs.
How to become one
No formal education is required, and most training happens on the job. Upscale restaurants often prefer experienced servers with knowledge of wine and fine dining service.
Salary by State
Geographic salary comparison
| State | Avg Salary | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $68,260 | +70.4% |
| Washington | $60,590 | +51.2% |
| District of Columbia | $59,510 | +48.6% |
| Vermont | $58,850 | +46.9% |
| New York | $54,750 | +36.7% |
| Oregon | $52,400 | +30.8% |
| Maine | $51,260 | +28.0% |
| Colorado | $51,240 | +27.9% |
| Arizona | $51,170 | +27.7% |
| New Jersey | $50,260 | +25.5% |
| Virginia | $46,680 | +16.5% |
| Connecticut | $46,220 | +15.4% |
| Michigan | $44,910 | +12.1% |
| California | $44,600 | +11.3% |
| Massachusetts | $44,480 | +11.0% |
| Maryland | $43,950 | +9.7% |
| New Hampshire | $43,380 | +8.3% |
| New Mexico | $43,210 | +7.9% |
| Delaware | $43,070 | +7.5% |
| Rhode Island | $42,740 | +6.7% |
| Ohio | $42,190 | +5.3% |
| Florida | $41,840 | +4.4% |
| Nebraska | $39,590 | -1.2% |
| Kansas | $39,170 | -2.2% |
| Missouri | $38,620 | -3.6% |
| West Virginia | $38,350 | -4.3% |
| Pennsylvania | $38,110 | -4.9% |
| North Carolina | $37,850 | -5.5% |
| Utah | $37,360 | -6.7% |
| Nevada | $36,870 | -8.0% |
| North Dakota | $36,250 | -9.5% |
| Illinois | $35,610 | -11.1% |
| Kentucky | $35,410 | -11.6% |
| Idaho | $35,320 | -11.8% |
| Wisconsin | $34,570 | -13.7% |
| Alaska | $33,640 | -16.0% |
| Indiana | $31,170 | -22.2% |
| Wyoming | $31,120 | -22.3% |
| South Dakota | $30,860 | -23.0% |
| Minnesota | $30,060 | -25.0% |
| Texas | $29,750 | -25.7% |
| Montana | $29,180 | -27.2% |
| Tennessee | $29,070 | -27.4% |
| Arkansas | $29,050 | -27.5% |
| Alabama | $27,200 | -32.1% |
| Iowa | $26,940 | -32.8% |
| Georgia | $26,610 | -33.6% |
| South Carolina | $25,900 | -35.3% |
| Oklahoma | $25,870 | -35.4% |
| Mississippi | $24,680 | -38.4% |
| Louisiana | $22,350 | -44.2% |
What Factors Affect Waiters and Waitresses Salary?
Key factors affecting compensation
Pay for Waiters and Waitresses is influenced by geographic location, years of experience, employer type, and educational background. Location alone is a large factor: Hawaii pays an average of $68,260, while Louisiana pays $22,350 — a gap of $45,910 per year.
Reported wages for servers include tips only to the extent they are reported to employers, and many states allow a lower tipped minimum wage, so actual take-home pay varies widely. Fine-dining restaurants, busy tourist areas, and evening and weekend shifts generally produce the highest earnings.
These figures are the wages employers report to BLS: base pay plus commissions, production bonuses and tips. They exclude overtime pay, shift differentials, year-end bonuses, benefits and self-employed workers, so total compensation can be higher than the numbers shown.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) · May 2025
Compare with Similar Jobs
Related career salary benchmarks
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation $46,180/yr United States +15.3% vs this role
- Cooks Fast Food $32,390/yr United States 19.1% vs this role
- Cooks Institution and Cafeteria $38,810/yr United States 3.1% vs this role
- Cooks Restaurant $38,730/yr United States 3.3% vs this role
- Bartenders $40,790/yr United States +1.8% vs this role
- Fast Food and Counter Workers $32,150/yr United States 19.7% vs this role
- Registered Nurses $101,420/yr United States +153.2% vs this role
- Nurse Practitioners $137,300/yr United States +242.7% vs this role
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this salary
What is the average salary for Waiters and Waitresses?
The average salary for Waiters and Waitresses in the United States is $40,060 per year, with a median of $35,230.
What is the starting salary for Waiters and Waitresses?
Entry-level Waiters and Waitresses typically earn between $18,100 and $27,750 per year depending on location and employer.
What state pays Waiters and Waitresses the most?
Hawaii pays Waiters and Waitresses the most at $68,260 per year on average, followed by Washington ($60,590) and District of Columbia ($59,510).
How much do Waiters and Waitresses make per hour?
Based on the average annual salary of $40,060, Waiters and Waitresses earn approximately $19.26 per hour (based on 2,080 working hours/year).
Is Waiters and Waitresses a good career in 2026?
BLS counts 2,270,910 Waiters and Waitresses jobs in the United States, with a mean annual wage of $40,060 and a median of $35,230 (OEWS May 2025). This site does not publish job-growth projections; the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook covers the outlook for each occupation.
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