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Baristas vs Cooks, Fast Food

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Baristas and Cooks, Fast Food on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Baristas Cooks, Fast Food
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$30,480
$30,160
Employment · BLS OEWS
3,780,930
668,230
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
56th pct
65th pct

At a glance

Dimension Baristas Cooks, Fast Food
Median pay $30,480 $30,160
Employment 3,780,930 668,230
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+6.1%) Declining (-13.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 904,300 82,100
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 56th pct Moderate · 65th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 29th pct · 18% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (45.8%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Customer and Personal Service, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Active Listening, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Service Orientation, Speech Recognition, English Language, Near Vision, Social Perceptiveness, Problem Sensitivity, Information Ordering, Time Sharing, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Sales and Marketing, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring, Coordination, Written Comprehension, Manual Dexterity, Trunk Strength, Critical Thinking, Deductive Reasoning, Selective Attention, Persuasion, Written Expression, Active Learning, Time Management.

Specific to Baristas

  • Finger Dexterity
  • Control Precision
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Food Production
  • Operation and Control
  • Category Flexibility
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Cooks, Fast Food

  • Administration and Management
  • Transportation
  • Communications and Media
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Stamina
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Inductive Reasoning

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Word processing software .

Specific to Baristas

Specific to Cooks, Fast Food

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Baristas or Cooks, Fast Food — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Baristas vs Cooks, Fast Food." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/baristas-vs-cooks-fast-food

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Baristas vs Cooks, Fast Food. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/baristas-vs-cooks-fast-food

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-baristas-vs-cooks-fast-food,
  title  = {Baristas vs Cooks, Fast Food},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/baristas-vs-cooks-fast-food}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.