Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Wisconsin earn a median of $38,650 a year (3% above the U.S. median of $37,450), based on about 9,890 jobs. Pay for the same job differs a lot by employer, experience, industry and city within Wisconsin. These are wages of employees in the occupation, not a forecast for any individual.

Median annual pay

$38,650

3% above the U.S. median of $37,450

Average annual pay

$39,860

Mean wage

Pay range

$32,110–$47,380

10th to 90th percentile

Jobs in the state

9,890

Employees, May 2025

Median hourly pay

$18.58

Before taxes

The state's price level is 94.1 (U.S. average = 100), so a median of $38,650 here equals roughly $41,073 after adjusting for the state's price level.

Explore more: cooks, institution and cafeteria salary in every state · about this career · Wisconsin earnings by education and major · Wisconsin counties

Fields of study linked to this career by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk (U.S. Department of Education, NCES, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics; a classification crosswalk, and many workers entered by other routes): Culinary Arts and Related Services · Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, state estimates (employees only; self-employed workers are not included); price-level adjustment uses the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (where 100 is the U.S. average; MajorPays' calculation). Wages are for an occupation in a state as a whole and vary widely by employer, experience, industry and place within the state. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed this presentation. See Data sources for each dataset's terms.