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Cooks, Restaurant vs Cooks, Fast Food

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Cooks, Restaurant 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.”

Cooks, Restaurant Cooks, Fast Food
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$36,830
$30,160
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,452,130
668,230
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
60th pct
65th pct

At a glance

Dimension Cooks, Restaurant Cooks, Fast Food
Median pay $36,830 $30,160
Employment 1,452,130 668,230
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+14.9%) Declining (-13.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 250,700 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 · 60th pct Moderate · 65th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 29th pct · 18% of tasks 29th pct · 18% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (49.8%) Augmentation-leaning (45.8%)
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: Near Vision, Manual Dexterity, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Time Management, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Time Sharing, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Trunk Strength, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Deductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Customer and Personal Service, Coordination, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension, Stamina, Social Perceptiveness, Inductive Reasoning.

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

  • Food Production
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Control Precision
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Category Flexibility
  • Visualization
  • Multilimb Coordination

Specific to Cooks, Fast Food

  • Administration and Management
  • Transportation
  • Communications and Media
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Service Orientation
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Written Expression

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 , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Point of sale POS software .

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

Specific to Cooks, Fast Food

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Cooks, Restaurant 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. "Cooks, Restaurant 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/cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-fast-food

    APA

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

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-fast-food,
  title  = {Cooks, Restaurant 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/cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-fast-food}
}

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