Neighborhood restaurants sit within a large U.S. food-service economy. In 2022, food services and drinking places included 618,476 employer establishments. In May 2023, full-service restaurants employed 5,289,580 workers across all occupations, with a median hourly wage of $16.30 and an annual mean wage of $37,520. The figures below show how that broad industry is organized and staffed.
Contents
- How many restaurant establishments are there?
- What does full-service restaurant employment look like?
- Which front-of-house roles employ the most people?
- What do kitchen roles pay?
- How are management and business roles represented?
- How do restaurant occupations compare?
How many restaurant establishments are there?
The U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns counted 618,476 employer establishments in food services and drinking places in 2022. This is the broadest figure in the supplied establishment data. It includes businesses across several formats, so it is a useful measure of the size of the commercial food-service landscape rather than a count of neighborhood restaurants alone.
Within that total, full-service restaurants accounted for 258,626 employer establishments. Full-service restaurants are the closest category in this dataset to a traditional neighborhood bistro: customers generally receive table service and the business depends on coordinated dining-room and kitchen work.
Limited-service restaurants had 270,088 employer establishments in 2022, according to the same Census Bureau source. That category was larger than the full-service category in the establishment counts supplied here. Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars added 85,140 establishments, while drinking places serving alcoholic beverages accounted for 40,835.
Mobile food services represented 12,487 employer establishments. The category distinction matters when interpreting restaurant statistics: a neighborhood dining room, a counter-service operation, a coffee bar, a bar, and a mobile food business all participate in food service, but their staffing structures and customer experiences differ.
| 2022 establishment category | Employer establishments |
|---|---|
| Food services and drinking places | 618,476 |
| Limited-service restaurants | 270,088 |
| Full-service restaurants | 258,626 |
| Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars | 85,140 |
| Drinking places serving alcoholic beverages | 40,835 |
| Mobile food services | 12,487 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2022. The categories are presented as reported and should not be treated as a single mutually exclusive breakdown without additional classification detail.
What does full-service restaurant employment look like?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data for May 2023 counted 5,289,580 workers in all occupations in full-service restaurants. The corresponding median hourly wage was $16.30, while the annual mean wage was $37,520. These are different measures: the median hourly wage identifies the midpoint of hourly pay, while the annual mean wage is an average annual figure.
Food preparation and serving related occupations formed the largest broad occupational group supplied for full-service restaurants. It employed 2,103,550 workers in May 2023. Its median hourly wage was $15.50 and its annual mean wage was $36,930.
The occupation-level figures show how many distinct jobs support a restaurant meal. They include cooks, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, hosts and hostesses, dishwashers, dining room attendants, managers, and business-support roles. A neighborhood restaurant’s public-facing experience therefore rests on a workforce that extends well beyond the person preparing a dish or taking an order.
The BLS figures are occupation estimates for full-service restaurants measured in May 2023. They are not a financial forecast, a measure of a particular restaurant’s payroll, or a count of independent neighborhood businesses. They provide a national occupational view of the full-service restaurant category.
Which front-of-house roles employ the most people?
Waiters and waitresses were the largest individual occupation listed in the May 2023 full-service restaurant data, with 1,698,930 workers. Their median hourly wage was $15.36 and their annual mean wage was $36,740. The size of this occupation reflects the importance of service interaction in the full-service model.
Hosts and hostesses employed 358,950 workers. Their median hourly wage was $13.89 and their annual mean wage was $30,270. These roles shape the first and last moments of a guest’s visit, including the initial welcome and the movement of customers through the dining room.
Dining room and cafeteria attendants employed 294,050 workers, with a median hourly wage of $14.61 and an annual mean wage of $32,530. Bartenders employed 294,670 workers. The median hourly wage for bartenders was $16.01, and the annual mean wage was $39,950.
Fast food and counter workers also appeared in the full-service restaurant occupation data, with 106,970 workers. Their median hourly wage was $14.58 and their annual mean wage was $31,780. Because occupational classifications can include roles found in more than one operating context, the occupation label should be read alongside the full-service restaurant industry setting used by BLS.
These numbers illustrate several staffing layers in a neighborhood dining room. Hosts manage the welcome, servers manage table contact, bartenders support beverage service, and attendants support dining-room operations. The data does not state how many workers a particular restaurant schedules per shift, so these figures should not be used to infer a local staffing template.
What do kitchen roles pay?
Restaurant cooks employed 1,044,680 workers in full-service restaurants in May 2023. The median hourly wage was $17.18 and the annual mean wage was $35,830. Among the individual cooking occupations listed, restaurant cooks had the largest employment count and the highest median hourly wage in this group.
Food preparation workers employed 221,600 people. Their median hourly wage was $16.59 and their annual mean wage was $33,970. Cooks, short order employed 31,830 workers, with a median hourly wage of $16.34 and an annual mean wage of $33,300.
Cooks, fast food employed 51,580 workers in the full-service restaurant setting. The median hourly wage was $14.20 and the annual mean wage was $30,310. The label describes the occupation classification supplied by BLS; it does not change the industry context of the figures, which is full-service restaurants.
Dishwashers employed 306,260 workers. Their median hourly wage was $14.60 and their annual mean wage was $31,040. The dishwasher count was higher than the count for food preparation workers and short-order cooks in the supplied figures, showing the scale of cleaning and back-of-house support required across full-service operations.
| Selected kitchen and support occupation | Employment, May 2023 | Median hourly wage | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooks, restaurant | 1,044,680 | $17.18 | $35,830 |
| Dishwashers | 306,260 | $14.60 | $31,040 |
| Food preparation workers | 221,600 | $16.59 | $33,970 |
| Cooks, fast food | 51,580 | $14.20 | $30,310 |
| Cooks, short order | 31,830 | $16.34 | $33,300 |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2023, full-service restaurants.
How are management and business roles represented?
Management occupations employed 158,160 workers in full-service restaurants in May 2023. Their median hourly wage was $31.94 and their annual mean wage was $76,900. Food service managers accounted for 86,960 workers, with the same $31.94 median hourly wage and a $72,190 annual mean wage.
Top executives employed 68,160 workers. Their median hourly wage was $31.51 and their annual mean wage was $82,510. General and operations managers employed 67,700 workers, with a median hourly wage of $31.43 and an annual mean wage of $82,250.
These management figures describe different occupational groupings, so they should not be added together. They show the range of leadership responsibilities recorded in the BLS data: food-service-specific management, general operations, and top executive work.
Business and financial operations occupations employed 19,820 workers. The median hourly wage was $22.94 and the annual mean wage was $53,960. Within that group, business operations specialists employed 15,970 workers, with a median hourly wage of $21.10 and an annual mean wage of $48,480.
Buyers and purchasing agents employed 550 workers in full-service restaurants. Their median hourly wage was $28.40 and their annual mean wage was $60,900. Human resources workers employed 2,340 workers, with a median hourly wage of $26.14 and an annual mean wage of $56,500.
For a neighborhood bistro, these roles help explain why restaurant operations involve more than menu production and table service. Purchasing, staffing, operations, and executive responsibilities are all represented in the national full-service restaurant occupation data, even though an individual small restaurant may combine several responsibilities in fewer positions.
How do restaurant occupations compare?
The supplied May 2023 figures show a clear difference between employment scale and pay. Waiters and waitresses had the largest individual employment count at 1,698,930, while buyers and purchasing agents had the smallest listed count at 550. Median hourly wages ranged from $13.89 for hosts and hostesses to $31.94 for management occupations and food service managers.
| Occupation or group | Employment | Median hourly wage | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiters and waitresses | 1,698,930 | $15.36 | $36,740 |
| Restaurant cooks | 1,044,680 | $17.18 | $35,830 |
| Hosts and hostesses | 358,950 | $13.89 | $30,270 |
| Dishwashers | 306,260 | $14.60 | $31,040 |
| Bartenders | 294,670 | $16.01 | $39,950 |
| Food service managers | 86,960 | $31.94 | $72,190 |
| Buyers and purchasing agents | 550 | $28.40 | $60,900 |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2023, full-service restaurants.
The comparison should be read carefully. Employment counts are not measures of hours worked, and the annual mean wage is not the same as the median hourly wage multiplied by a stated number of hours. The dataset supplies no schedule, tip, turnover, revenue, or profitability measure. It therefore supports comparisons of reported occupation counts and wage measures, but not claims about an individual restaurant’s labor cost or earnings.
Taken together, the Census Bureau’s 2022 establishment counts and the BLS’s May 2023 occupation estimates describe a broad setting for neighborhood restaurant work. Full-service restaurants were one major part of the national food-service establishment landscape, and their workforce included large service and kitchen occupations alongside management, purchasing, and human-resources roles.