🍽️
Restaurants
Olive Garden, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's
Waiters and Waitresses
Waiters and waitresses are the front line of a restaurant dining room: they seat guests, set up tables, handle orders and payments, and keep service moving between the kitchen and the customer. The work is distinct because success depends on speed, memory, and calm people skills all at once, and the tradeoff is that earnings and schedules can swing a lot from one shift to the next.
Also known as ServerRestaurant ServerFood ServerDining Room ServerWait Staff
Median Salary
$33,760
Mean $38,360
U.S. Workforce
~2.3M
456.7K openings per year
10-Year Growth
+-0.7%
2329.7K to 2313.5K
Entry Education
No formal educational credential
+ None experience
What This Role Looks Like in Practice
Waiters and Waitresses sits in the Business category. In practical terms, this role combines day-to-day execution, cross-team coordination, and consistent decision-making under real business constraints.
U.S. employment is currently about ~2.3M workers, with a median annual pay of $33,760 and roughly 456.7K openings each year. Based on BLS projections, total employment is expected to decline from 2329.7 K in 2024 to 2313.5K in 2034.
Most hiring paths start with High School Diploma, and employers typically expect none of related experience. Many careers in this track begin around Busser / Food Runner and can progress toward Restaurant Manager. High-value skills usually include Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems & Payment Processing, Menu Knowledge, Allergens & Dietary Requests, and Food Safety, Sanitation & Alcohol ID Checks, paired with soft skills such as Service Orientation, Active Listening, and Speaking.
Core Responsibilities
- Set up and reset tables with clean linens, silverware, glasses, and other place settings.
- Seat guests when they arrive and help them get settled.
- Prepare simple front-of-house items such as salads, appetizers, desserts, and coffee.
- Carry meals and drinks from the kitchen or service area to the dining room.
Keep exploring: more Business careers or browse all job titles.
A Day in the Life
01 Set up and reset tables with clean linens, silverware, glasses, and other place settings.
02 Seat guests when they arrive and help them get settled.
03 Prepare simple front-of-house items such as salads, appetizers, desserts, and coffee.
04 Carry meals and drinks from the kitchen or service area to the dining room.
05 Check guests' IDs when alcohol is being served and handle customer payments.
06 Watch for problems during the meal, check in with guests, and fix issues quickly.
Industries That Hire
🏨
Hotels and Resorts
Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt
🍺
Bars, Breweries and Nightlife
Buffalo Wild Wings, Dave & Buster's, Topgolf
🎉
Catering and Events
Aramark, Compass Group, Sodexo
🚢
Cruise Lines and Travel
Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line
Pros and Cons
Advantages
+
It is one of the easiest service jobs to enter: BLS says no formal educational credential is needed and training is usually short-term.
+
There are a lot of openings, with 456.7K annual job openings projected, so people who are reliable can often find work quickly.
+
The role can be flexible if you need nights, weekends, or part-time hours, which is common in restaurants and hotels.
+
You spend the shift talking with people and getting immediate feedback, which suits workers who like fast-paced, face-to-face work.
+
Earnings can be better than the median suggests in busy venues because the mean annual wage is $38,360, compared with a $33,760 median.
Challenges
-
Pay is modest for a full-time job: the median annual wage is $33,760, so a lot of workers stay close to the bottom of the wage scale unless tips are strong.
-
The occupation is projected to shrink by 0.7% from 2024 to 2034, so steady demand does not mean long-term growth.
-
Income can be unpredictable because tips, shift quality, seasonality, and customer traffic can change from one day to the next.
-
The work is physically tiring: workers spend long periods on their feet, carry heavy trays, and keep cleaning and resetting tables all shift.
-
There is a career ceiling in many restaurants, since the job is easy to enter but often requires moving into supervision or management to earn much more.
Career Progression
Busser / Food Runner
0-1 years
$25K-$31K
You support servers by clearing tables, carrying plates, and keeping the dining room moving.
Waiter / Waitress
1-4 years
$31K-$41K
You manage a section, keep orders and payments straight, and handle most guest interactions during a shift.
Senior Server THIS ROLE
4-7 years
$41K-$50K
You take on busier sections, train newer staff, and handle larger parties or more complex service.
Shift Lead / Dining Room Supervisor
7-10 years
$50K-$60K
You coordinate front-of-house service, solve customer issues, and help keep the team on schedule.
Restaurant Manager
10+ years
$60K-$80K
You oversee staffing, labor, service quality, and daily operations instead of working a single section.
Education Paths
High School Diploma
The most common path, held by 57.57% of workers in this role.
Less Than a High School Diploma
A sizable share of workers, 32.33%, enter without finishing high school, especially where employers train on the job.
Post-Secondary Certificate
A smaller path, used by 8.29% of workers, often paired with food-safety or alcohol-service training.
No Formal Educational Credential
BLS lists no formal credential as the typical entry point, and many employers hire first-time workers who learn the job during short-term on-the-job training.
Key Skills
Technical
Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems & Payment Processing 78%
Menu Knowledge, Allergens & Dietary Requests 74%
Food Safety, Sanitation & Alcohol ID Checks 71%
Order Timing & Kitchen Ticket Coordination 68%
Table Setup, Tray Carrying & Dining Room Service 65%
Soft Skills
Service OrientationActive ListeningSpeakingSocial PerceptivenessCoordinationMonitoring Job Outlook and Trends
+-0.7%
Projected growth (2024-2034)
456.7K
Annual job openings
Employment is projected to rise from 2329.7K to 2313.5 K over the next decade, representing -0.7% growth. Around 456.7 K openings per year include both newly created roles and replacement hiring from turnover.
Remote availability is currently Rare. Demand remains strongest where employers need practical domain knowledge plus modern workflow and data skills.