Food preparation and serving related occupations · SOC 35-3023 · Nebraska
Fast food and counter workers in Nebraska
Fast food and counter workers in Nebraska earned a median of $29,000 a year in May 2025, below the $31,200 national median for the occupation. Nebraska employs 30,060 of them, 29.3 of every 1,000 jobs in the state. Most people entering the occupation nationally do so with no formal educational credential.
Median annual pay in Nebraska
$29,000
Below the $31,200 national median for this occupation
Median hourly pay in Nebraska
$13.94
Published separately by BLS, not calculated from the annual figure.
Middle half earn between
$28,210 – $34,410
The 25th to 75th percentile of everyone in the occupation in this state
Employed in Nebraska
30,060
29.3 of every 1,000 jobs in the state
Concentration vs national
1.18×
more concentrated here than nationally
Pay rank
#28 of 51
Among the states and DC that released an estimate for this occupation
Typical entry education (U.S.)
No formal educational credential
What fast food and counter workers actually earn in Nebraska
The full published wage distribution, not one averaged figure. Pay inside a single occupation varies more by experience, employer and setting than most salary pages admit.
- 10th percentile
- $28,080
- 25th percentile
- $28,210
- Median
- $29,000
- 75th percentile
- $34,410
- 90th percentile
- $35,760
How Nebraska compares
- Against the rest of the country. $29,000 in Nebraska against $31,200 nationally for the same occupation, which puts Nebraska 28th of the 51 jurisdictions that released an estimate. Neither figure is adjusted for cost of living, so a higher median does not by itself mean more money left over.
- Against other work in Nebraska. $29,000 against $48,980, the median across every occupation in the state — 41% below it.
- How much of this work is here. The occupation is more concentrated here than nationally (1.18× the national share of employment), 14th of 51 for concentration. Concentration describes where the work is, not how easy it is to be hired.
Where fast food and counter workers are paid most
The highest published medians for this occupation. Before reading it as a place to move, note that these are not cost-of-living adjusted and that the states paying most are often the ones where everything costs most.
How people get into this work
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports as typical for entry nationally. Typical is a measurement of the people already doing the work, not a rule: some enter with less and some with more.
Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
Work experience needed
None
On-the-job training
Short-term on-the-job training
Nebraska licensing is not in these figures.
Many occupations, including most of health care, teaching, law, accountancy and the skilled trades, require a state licence, certification or registration before you can work. Nebraska sets its own, and none of it is part of the federal dataset above, so CampusPin cannot tell you whether this occupation is licensed here. Check the Nebraska licensing board before committing to a route, because where an occupation is licensed that requirement, not the typical credential, is the real gate.
Colleges in Nebraska
Pay is one half of the decision. What it costs to get qualified is the other, and it is the half that varies most between two colleges in the same state.
Source & methodology
State wage and employment figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 release. National median pay, projections and typical entry education are from the BLS Employment Projections programme (2024 wages). Both are public domain; credit BLS.
Wages are May 2025 estimates from the federal Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, which asks employers what they pay everyone currently working in the occupation — experienced and new alike. They are not starting salaries, not the earnings of recent graduates, and not adjusted for cost of living, which matters when comparing one state against another. Self-employed workers are not surveyed.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. (2026). Fast food and counter workers in Nebraska, pay and employment. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/careers/fast-food-and-counter-workers/in/nebraska
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