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Chefs and Head Cooks vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Chefs and Head Cooks and Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 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.”

Chefs and Head Cooks Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$60,990
$36,450
Employment · BLS OEWS
182,320
448,260
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
51st pct
19th pct

At a glance

Dimension Chefs and Head Cooks Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
Median pay $60,990 $36,450
Employment 182,320 448,260
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.1%) About average (+2.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 24,400 69,700
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 51st pct Low · 19th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 47th pct · 25% of tasks 29th pct · 18% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (38.9%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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: Coordination, Food Production, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Production and Processing, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Information Ordering, Customer and Personal Service, Speaking, Time Management, Management of Personnel Resources, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Inductive Reasoning, Near Vision, Speech Recognition, Administration and Management, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Active Learning, Selective Attention, English Language, Complex Problem Solving, Quality Control Analysis, Category Flexibility, Visualization.

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Instructing
  • Education and Training
  • Originality
  • Learning Strategies
  • Management of Material Resources
  • Fluency of Ideas

Specific to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

  • Operations Monitoring
  • Time Sharing
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Trunk Strength
  • Public Safety and Security

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 , Analytical or scientific software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

Specific to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Chefs and Head Cooks or Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — 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. "Chefs and Head Cooks vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria." 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/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Chefs and Head Cooks vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria,
  title  = {Chefs and Head Cooks vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria},
  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/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria}
}

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