Chefs and Head Cooks Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $59K, rent takes 31.6% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,260/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,200/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new chefs and head cooks typically earn — is $35K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,122/month.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $59K locally vs. $62K nationally, a 5% difference.

Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California nonmetropolitan area pays $59K median vs. the U.S. average of $62K — that’s -5%.

The median is $59,300 a year, that works out to about $29 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $35,360, and experienced chefs and head cooks can clear $100,060. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,986/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,260/month, which eats 31.6% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California nonmetropolitan area has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median chefs and head cooks salary is worth about $59,300 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.