Cooks (Restaurant) build time management, judgment and decision making and coordination skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Bakers (88%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bakers | 88% | $37,160 | −1% | None |
| 2 | Butchers and Meat Cutters | 86% | $40,140 | +7% | None |
| 3 | Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | 77% | $35,360 | −5% | None |
| 4 | Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | 77% | $35,730 | −4% | None |
| 5 | Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders | 77% | $41,590 | +11% | None |
| 6 | Dishwashers | 76% | $34,810 | −7% | None |
| 7 | Chefs and Head Cooks | 75% | $62,470 | +67% | Certificate or associate |
| 8 | Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | 75% | $38,300 | +2% | None |
| 9 | Food Batchmakers | 75% | $42,290 | +13% | None |
| 10 | Slaughterers and Meat Packers | 74% | $40,130 | +7% | None |
Compared with Cooks, Restaurant, median $37,390. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in work as cooks (restaurant) (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
88% skill match · $37,160 · −1% pay
Equipment Maintenance · Technology Design · Quality Control Analysis
86% skill match · $40,140 · +7% pay
Negotiation · Persuasion · Service Orientation
77% skill match · $35,360 · −5% pay
Technology Design · Service Orientation · Troubleshooting
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Bakers (88% skill match, median $37,160), Butchers and Meat Cutters (86% skill match, median $40,140) and Food Servers, Nonrestaurant (77% skill match, median $35,360), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 12 pay more than cooks (restaurant) at the median. The biggest increases: Food Service Managers (+86%, $69,390), Chefs and Head Cooks (+67%, $62,470) and Carpet Installers (+35%, $50,340).
24 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.