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Food Preparation Workers vs Chefs and Head Cooks

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Food Preparation Workers and Chefs and Head Cooks 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.”

Food Preparation Workers Chefs and Head Cooks
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$34,220
$60,990
Employment · BLS OEWS
888,770
182,320
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
44th pct
51st pct

At a glance

Dimension Food Preparation Workers Chefs and Head Cooks
Median pay $34,220 $60,990
Employment 888,770 182,320
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-3.4%) Growing fast (+7.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 148,000 24,400
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 44th pct Moderate · 51st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 11th pct · 13% of tasks 47th pct · 25% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (55.4%) 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: Customer and Personal Service, Active Listening, Service Orientation, Time Management, Oral Comprehension, Near Vision, Food Production, Speaking, Coordination, Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Information Ordering, Production and Processing, Reading Comprehension, Social Perceptiveness, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Selective Attention, Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning, English Language, Judgment and Decision Making, Administration and Management, Written Comprehension, Quality Control Analysis, Mathematics.

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

  • Trunk Strength
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Far Vision
  • Static Strength

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Instructing
  • Education and Training
  • Active Learning
  • Originality
  • Learning Strategies
  • Complex Problem Solving

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 , Office suite software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Food Preparation Workers or Chefs and Head Cooks — 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. "Food Preparation Workers vs Chefs and Head Cooks." 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/food-preparation-workers-vs-chefs-and-head-cooks

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Food Preparation Workers vs Chefs and Head Cooks. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/food-preparation-workers-vs-chefs-and-head-cooks

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-food-preparation-workers-vs-chefs-and-head-cooks,
  title  = {Food Preparation Workers vs Chefs and Head Cooks},
  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/food-preparation-workers-vs-chefs-and-head-cooks}
}

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