Food preparation and serving related occupations · SOC 35-2021 · Wisconsin
Food preparation workers in Wisconsin
Food preparation workers in Wisconsin earned a median of $34,070 a year in May 2025, below the $35,320 national median for the occupation. Wisconsin employs 17,990 of them, 6.1 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 Wisconsin
$34,070
Below the $35,320 national median for this occupation
Median hourly pay in Wisconsin
$16.38
Published separately by BLS, not calculated from the annual figure.
Middle half earn between
$28,870 – $37,940
The 25th to 75th percentile of everyone in the occupation in this state
Employed in Wisconsin
17,990
6.1 of every 1,000 jobs in the state
Concentration vs national
1.06×
about as concentrated here as 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 food preparation workers actually earn in Wisconsin
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
- $26,080
- 25th percentile
- $28,870
- Median
- $34,070
- 75th percentile
- $37,940
- 90th percentile
- $44,290
How Wisconsin compares
- Against the rest of the country. $34,070 in Wisconsin against $35,320 nationally for the same occupation, which puts Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin. $34,070 against $50,270, the median across every occupation in the state — 32% below it.
- How much of this work is here. The occupation is about as concentrated here as nationally (1.06× the national share of employment), 18th of 51 for concentration. Concentration describes where the work is, not how easy it is to be hired.
Where food preparation 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
Wisconsin 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. Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin
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). Food preparation workers in Wisconsin, pay and employment. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/careers/food-preparation-workers/in/wisconsin
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