Food Preparation and Serving · Holland code CSR

Waiters and Waitresses

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

Also called: Food Server, Server, Waiter, Waitress, Banquet Server, Busser, Cocktail Server, Food Runner.

O*NET 35-3031.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $35,230; Middle half earn $27,750 to $47,110. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 58% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -1% · Decline; 2,329,700 jobs in 2024, projected 2,313,500. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Waiters and waitresses".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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 it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.5 / 5
Speaking3.5 / 5
Monitoring3.0 / 5
Critical Thinking2.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension2.8 / 5
Active Learning2.5 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
English Language3.6 / 5
Sales and Marketing3.3 / 5
Food Production2.6 / 5
Mathematics2.6 / 5
Administration and Management2.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic52
Investigative0
Artistic14
Social62
Enterprising51
Conventional66

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

waiter/waitress · DE Kellner/Kellnerin · FR serveur/serveuse

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Waiters and waitresses (9264)259,800 employed
Bar and catering supervisors (9261)64,800 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “飲食物給仕従事者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥239,100; Middle half earn ¥198,200 to ¥293,700 a month.
Workers in the category: 198,130; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Service and sales workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Service and sales workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€32,957
Sweden	€32,596
Netherlands	€29,198
Austria	€29,068
Germany	€27,471
Ireland	€26,978
Italy	€24,995
France	€24,971
Spain	€18,303
Portugal	€10,656
Poland	€7,579

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.95. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (35-3031).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test