Fast Food and Counter Workers Average Salary in Washington
$40,390 average · $40,390 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 35-3023What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Washington, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. Geographic minimum wages and franchise vs. corporate ownership explain most of the state variation. Shift lead and assistant manager differentials are the first meaningful raises inside the brand. Institutional and hospital food service often beats QSR on benefits even when base wages look similar.
How much do Fast Food and Counter Workers make in Washington?
The average fast food and counter workers salary in Washington is $40,390 per year. That works out to about $19.42 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 94,710 fast food and counter workers jobs in Washington.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $40,390. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $40,390; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $40,390 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Fast Food and Counter Workers Careers Are Structured
Fast food and counter workers prepare and serve limited-menu food in QSR, cafeterias, and counter-service formats. It is among the largest youth and first-job occupations in the country, with high turnover and schedule-driven hours.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how fast food and counter workers pay is distributed in Washington specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Geographic minimum wages and franchise vs. corporate ownership explain most of the state variation. Shift lead and assistant manager differentials are the first meaningful raises inside the brand. Institutional and hospital food service often beats QSR on benefits even when base wages look similar.
Entry is immediate. The realistic upgrades are supervision within food service, moves into institutional kitchens, or lateral transfers into retail and customer service with stronger mid-career distributions. Use the percentile chart to see how compressed the floor is — and how much the first supervisory step matters.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Fast Food and Counter Workers Do?
Fast Food and Counter Workers positions belong to the fast food and counter workers field. Fast food and counter workers prepare and serve limited-menu food in QSR, cafeterias, and counter-service formats. It is among the largest youth and first-job occupations in the country, with high turnover and schedule-driven hours.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 35-3023
Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Washington
In Washington, fast food and counter workers report a median of $40,390 (about $19.42/hour) across roughly 94,710 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $40,390 at the 10th percentile to $40,390 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons Washington wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in Washington
Prices in Washington run 7% above the national average (RPP 107.0). So a nominal salary of $40,390 has the buying power of about $37,743 in national terms.
Washington vs. United States for Fast Food and Counter Workers
The median fast food and counter workers salary in Washington is $40,390, which is +27.1% above the national median of $31,790 (mean pay is +25.3% above the U.S. mean of $32,226). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, Washington ranks #2 by median wage for this occupation (top tier). Washington accounts for about 0.5% of U.S. fast food and counter workers employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Washington of $40,390 falls in the Stably paid band of this framework - roughly ~12% of the U.S. population and ~15% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Fast Food and Counter Workers
| $35,622 | $35,459 | $17 | 452,680 | |
| $35,577 | $35,640 | $17 | 254,340 | |
SOC: 445000 | $34,400 | $34,720 | $17 | 134,820 |
| $31,770 | $30,757 | $15 | 10,068,420 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 53-7062 • 78% match | $42,117 | $42,260 | $20 | 15,269,800 |
SOC: 53-7065 • 82% match | $39,579 | $39,440 | $19 | 14,316,800 |
| $39,122 | $38,760 | $19 | 12,706,340 | |
SOC: 41-2031 • 92% match | $37,302 | $37,310 | $18 | 19,723,450 |
| Find Occupation 41 2031 Jobs | ||||
SOC: 31-1120 • 89% match | $36,156 | $36,010 | $17 | 48,535,960 |
| $33,202 | $33,180 | $16 | 15,770,510 | |
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Fast Food And Counter Workers in Other States
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