---

Waiters and Waitresses: Job Description

Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.

What Tasks Do Waiters and Waitresses Do?

The core tasks performed by waiters and waitresses include:

• Collect payments from customers.
• Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
• Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
• Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.
• Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
• Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
• Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning.
• Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.

Skills and Knowledge

Successful waiters and waitresses draw on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Most Important Skills

The abilities most important for this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Knowledge Areas

Other Waiters and Waitresses Job Titles

This career also goes by job titles like:

• Banquet Server
• Banquet Waiter
• Banquet Waitress
• Bar Waiter
• Bar Waitress
• Buffet Waiter
• Buffet Waitress
• Busser

How Many Waiters and Waitresses Are There?

There are roughly 1,737,342 waiters and waitresses working in the United States today. Demand is forecast to grow by +6.1% over the projection horizon.

Salary for Waiters and Waitresses

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$42,006
Hourly median	$20.20
10th percentile	$26,382
25th percentile	$34,194
75th percentile	$49,818
90th percentile	$57,630

Compensation varies based on experience, location, and industry.

Pay by State

State	Annual median salary
Vermont	$60,910
Hawaii	$48,570
Washington	$47,490
New York	$46,460
District of Columbia	$45,770
Maine	$44,550
Rhode Island	$42,600
New Hampshire	$39,270
New Jersey	$38,720
Virginia	$36,990
Arizona	$36,730
Connecticut	$36,440
Massachusetts	$36,390
Ohio	$36,030
Michigan	$35,940
California	$35,290
Maryland	$35,140
Colorado	$34,990
Nebraska	$34,000
Oregon	$33,930
Delaware	$33,750
Virgin Islands	$32,230
Kansas	$31,560
Idaho	$30,540
New Mexico	$30,440
West Virginia	$30,320
Pennsylvania	$30,300
Utah	$29,860
Florida	$29,580
North Dakota	$29,420
Illinois	$29,120
South Dakota	$29,080
Wisconsin	$29,050
North Carolina	$28,460
Tennessee	$28,410
Texas	$27,930
Indiana	$27,420
Alaska	$27,370
Missouri	$26,950
Arkansas	$26,350
Iowa	$26,140
Wyoming	$25,340
Nevada	$24,960
Minnesota	$24,470
Montana	$22,630
Kentucky	$22,260
Alabama	$21,920
Puerto Rico	$21,290
Guam	$20,480
Mississippi	$20,340
Georgia	$20,040
Oklahoma	$19,890
South Carolina	$18,530
Louisiana	$16,880

Where Waiters and Waitresses Earn the Most

Earnings for waiters and waitresses shift depending on where you work. The following regions pay the most:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Middle Atlantic	$39,586	14.5%	0.95
New England	$38,860	4.6%	0.98
Far Western US	$35,948	15.8%	1.00
Great Lakes	$32,006	13.3%	0.94
Rocky Mountains	$31,705	3.6%	0.91
Southwest	$28,929	13.1%	1.05
Plains States	$27,620	6.4%	0.93
Southeast	$26,632	27.8%	1.16

Where the Jobs Cluster

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Kahului-Wailuku, HI	HI	$71,920	2,460
Burlington-South Burlington, VT	VT	$66,350	1,510
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	WA	$48,760	25,860
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	NY	$48,110	6,100
Syracuse, NY	NY	$47,830	3,640
Binghamton, NY	NY	$47,650	1,430
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	WA	$47,560	780
Utica-Rome, NY	NY	$47,380	1,700

Industry Breakdown

The largest employers of waiters and waitresses are found across these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Accommodation and Food Services	2,116,650	$33,710
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	96,680	$34,350
Manufacturing	20,180	$36,120
Health Care and Social Assistance	15,640	$32,610
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	15,470	$37,440
Other Services (except Public Administration)	11,970	$33,990
Retail Trade	7,700	$29,120
Information	4,930	$29,850

The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.

Tools and Technology

• Web page creation and editing software: Facebook (hot technology)

The Day-to-Day Environment

Daily working conditions for waiters and waitresses reflects the following characteristics:

• Contact With Others
• Spend Time Standing
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Spend Time Walking or Running
• Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team

Education and Training

Typical waiters and waitresses positions require a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education. This occupation sits in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.

Similar Occupations

Similar Occupations

• Food Service Managers (Primary-Long)
• Chefs and Head Cooks (Supplemental)
• First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers (Primary-Long)
• Cooks, Fast Food (Supplemental)
• Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria (Supplemental)
• Cooks, Private Household (Supplemental)
• Cooks, Restaurant (Supplemental)
• Cooks, Short Order (Primary-Long)

References

Statistics shown above are sourced from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 35-3031.00 (Waiters and Waitresses).