Am I Paid Fairly? Hospitality Wage Checker (Free)

Most people who type "am I underpaid" are working from a coworker's number or one job post. That is a tiny sample. This free hospitality wage checker places your take-home on the official Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics scale for your role, your state, and your metro when BLS published one.

You get a percentile, the gap versus the published median, and an estimated path if you stay in the work. No signup. Your pay stays in this browser.

How this wage checker works

Pick a hospitality role (server, bartender, line cook, chef, restaurant manager, host, barista, busser, or dishwasher) and a state. Add a metro if you want the official MSA or nonmetro area. Enter hourly or annual pay and the hours you work in a typical week.

We convert everything to an hourly rate using your hours, not the BLS 2,080-hour year. A 28-hour host week is not a 40-hour manager week. Then we interpolate your rate between the five published percentiles: 10th, 25th, 50th (the median), 75th, and 90th. Below the 10th or above the 90th we stop guessing. We say bottom 10 percent or top 10 percent.

What your percentile means

A percentile is a rank, not a grade. If you sit at the 60th percentile, you earn more than about 6 in 10 people in that role and place. The 50th percentile is the median: half earn more, half earn less. That is the honest answer to "what does this job pay?"

The 10th percentile is the lowest wage BLS still publishes. The 90th is the top of the common range, not a celebrity chef number. The mean (the average) often sits above the median because a long tip tail or a few high-paying kitchens pull it up. For waiters and waitresses in the United States, May 2025 OEWS shows a median of $16.94 an hour and a mean of $19.26. The median is the better typical.

Width on the "where you sit" bar is people, not dollars. A wide last slice in dollars still means only the top 15 percent of that role.

What BLS counts as wages

OEWS wages include base pay, guaranteed pay, commissions, and tips. They exclude overtime, shift differentials, and benefits. That is why the form asks for what you take home, wages plus tips, not the cash wage printed on the schedule.

The May 2025 release is the current official set. Occupation codes match the ones on MAJC salary guides: waiters and waitresses (35-3031), bartenders (35-3011), restaurant cooks (35-2014), chefs and head cooks (35-1011), and food service managers (11-9051).

Why state and metro beat a national average

A California server and a Mississippi server are not in the same labor market. The map colors each state by that role's median hourly wage so you can see the spread before you click. When BLS published the metro cell, the report uses that area. When it did not, we fall back to the state and say so.

A national median is context, not your market. Large metros often pay more. Nonmetro areas often pay less. Compare yourself to the place you actually work.

Chef salary in the United States

BLS publishes chef salary under Chefs and Head Cooks (35-1011), about 200,040 jobs in May 2025. The national median is $30.03 an hour, or $62,470 a year on the BLS year. The 10th percentile is $18.22. The 90th is $47.39. The mean is $32.07, a bit above the median.

There is no one chef salary. A chef in Washington is not compared to a chef in Alabama. Type your take-home and pick the state. For posted-pay medians next to live listings, use the chef salary guide.

Bartender pay, including tips

How much bartenders make depends on tips, the venue, and the state. OEWS already folds tips into bartender wages (35-3011), about 756,390 jobs. The national median is $16.51 an hour ($34,340 a year on the BLS year). The 10th percentile is $9.67, which is where tip-credit cash wages show up. The 90th is $35.47. The mean is $19.61.

A posted cash wage is the wrong input. Enter what you walk with. The bartender salary page shows disclosed job-post pay beside the same BLS code.

Server hourly wage versus tipped minimum

Searches for how much servers make, or server hourly wage, often land on tipped minimum wage pages. Those are the legal minimum, not take-home. OEWS Waiters and Waitresses (35-3031) includes tips. May 2025 national figures: about 2.27 million jobs, median $16.94 an hour, 10th percentile $8.70, 90th percentile $31.12, mean $19.26.

In no-tip-credit states the published median often sits near the cash wage. The long tail is where reported tips show up. Use this checker for the distribution. Use the server salary guide for what employers are posting right now.

Line cook and restaurant manager salary

Line cook salary in OEWS is Restaurant Cooks (35-2014), about 1.41 million jobs. The national median is $17.98 an hour. The band is tight: $13.80 at the 10th percentile and $23.03 at the 90th. Most cooks sit close together.

Restaurant manager salary is Food Service Managers (11-9051), about 238,430 jobs. The national median is $33.36 an hour, or $69,390 a year on the BLS year. The 10th percentile is $22.09. The 90th is $51.75. The mean is $36.00.

Pick the card that matches the work, not the title on the schedule. A chef de partie who is really a line cook should use Line cook. A salaried GM should use the manager card. See the line cook and restaurant manager salary guides for posted pay.

Years on the job

BLS OEWS does not publish pay by years of experience. Anyone who shows a year-one and year-ten number as official BLS is inventing it. We still show a path, and we label it estimated.

The curve comes from Current Population Survey Job Tenure Supplement usual weekly earnings, applied as a ratio to this role's published median. Leisure and hospitality median employer tenure is 2.0 years (BLS Employee Tenure, January 2024). The food-service curve reaches 1.0 near year three and flattens after about ten. Your dashed line grows at the same pace so you can see the gap versus the median later, not a promised raise.

Common mistakes when you compare pay

• Comparing a tipped paycheck to a posted cash wage. BLS already includes tips. Enter the full take-home.
• Annualizing a part-time week as if it were 40 hours. Use the hours slider.
• Using the US median when you work in a high-cost or low-cost state. Start with your state or metro.
• Treating the estimated tenure line as a promise. It is a group pattern, not your raise schedule.
• Ignoring overtime. OEWS excludes it. If OT is a big share of your check, say so when you talk to a manager.

What to do if you sit below the median

If you sit well below the published median after a few years, and you are reliable, that is a conversation or a search. The number is evidence, not a verdict. Role salary guides on MAJC list live postings with disclosed pay. The overtime calculator is the next stop if your hours regularly blow past 40.

This page stays free. If you want the record to follow you to the next job, that is what MAJC is for.

Frequently asked questions

What number should I type in?

What you actually take home in a normal week. Wages plus tips. Not the cash wage on the schedule if you walk with more than that.

Does this include tips?

Yes. Official BLS hospitality wages already fold tips in. If you only enter the $2.13 or $5 on the schedule, the result will look worse than your real pay.

I do not work 40 hours. Does that change the result?

No. Use the hours slider. We convert your pay with your week, not a made-up 40-hour year. A 28-hour host and a 50-hour cook are not the same paycheck.

Does anyone see what I typed?

No. Your pay stays in this browser. We do not ask for your name, email, or workplace.

What should I do if I sit below the median?

You have a number for a raise talk or a job search. Look at live listings next. This page stays free and does not ask for an account.