Restaurant Team Member Hourly Pay & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 50,537 US job postings by 1,281 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for restaurant team members: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 50,537 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for restaurant team members in US job postings is $15.92 an hour (5,957 postings from 260 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $13.50 to $17.50 an hour.
- The skills that most set restaurant team member postings apart are great attitude, positive attitude, team player.
Restaurant Team Member job postings in the US, October 2026
- $15.92/hr
- Median advertised pay (5,957 postings)
- $13.50–$17.50
- Middle 50% of postings
- 50,537
- US job postings from 1,281 employers
How much does a restaurant team member make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $15.92 an hour, from 5,957 US job postings by 260 employers that state pay. That is about $33,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 5,957 US restaurant team member job postings: median $33,000 a year ($15.92 an hour), middle half $28,000 to $36,000.
- Median: $33,000 ($15.92/hr)
- 25th percentile: $28,000
- 75th percentile: $36,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 1.4% |
| $20K–$30K | 30.6% |
| $30K–$40K | 55.1% |
| $40K–$50K | 10.1% |
| $50K–$60K | 1.6% |
| $60K–$70K | 1.0% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $15.92 | $13.50–$17.50 | 1,465 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $33,000 | $28K–$36K | 5,957 |
What is the starting salary for a restaurant team member?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying restaurant team member jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Team Member (general) | $16.00/hr | 1,700 | 106 |
| Team Member | $15.50/hr | 3,805 | 127 |
Restaurant team member pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $20.50/hr | $20.00–$21.50 | 729 | 7.4% |
| Washington | $18.06/hr | $17.13–$19.81 | 277 | 1.5% |
| Colorado | $17.70/hr | $16.08–$19.29 | 268 | 1.9% |
| New York | $17.00/hr | $16.50–$18.00 | 553 | 3.5% |
| New Jersey | $16.75/hr | $16.50–$17.46 | 208 | 2.0% |
| Massachusetts | $16.50/hr | $15.88–$17.25 | 306 | 2.5% |
| Maryland | $16.12/hr | $15.75–$18.00 | 131 | 1.4% |
| Illinois | $15.75/hr | $15.00–$17.00 | 449 | 4.0% |
| Minnesota | $15.50/hr | $14.71–$16.50 | 157 | 1.7% |
| Florida | $15.00/hr | $14.00–$16.00 | 264 | 5.4% |
| Virginia | $14.62/hr | $14.38–$15.36 | 263 | 2.6% |
| Ohio | $14.00/hr | $12.87–$15.25 | 297 | 4.4% |
| Pennsylvania | $14.00/hr | $13.00–$15.00 | 148 | 3.5% |
| Texas | $13.65/hr | $12.50–$14.50 | 300 | 11.9% |
Skills employers ask for in restaurant team member job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Positive attitude | 22% |
| Customer service | 20% |
| Team player | 18% |
| Friendly | 14% |
| Great attitude | 12% |
| Teamwork | 11% |
| Communication | 11% |
| Reliable | 7% |
| Basic math skills | 7% |
| Attention to detail | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set restaurant team members apart
- Great attitude50.3× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Positive attitude6.4× as often as in all postings · 22%
- Team player5.8× as often as in all postings · 18%
- Friendly10.1× as often as in all postings · 14%
- Personal hygiene46.8× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Basic math skills8.2× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Sense of urgency8.5× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Basic math8.6× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Reliable4.5× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Communicate6.1× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a restaurant team member job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a restaurant team member do?
Employers post these jobs as Crew Member, Front of House, Pizza Maker, Carhop or Skating Carhop, Crew Members and other titles. The largest specializations are Team Member (36%), Sandwich Artist (35%), Carhop or Skating Carhop (3%), ToGo Specialist (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Fast Food and Counter Workers (35-3023.00). Its most important tasks:
- Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary.
- Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food.
- Request and record customer orders, and compute bills, using cash registers, multi-counting machines, or pencil and paper.
- Balance receipts and payments in cash registers.
- Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
Other names for a restaurant team member: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Crew Member | 489 (38.2%) |
| Restaurant Team Member | 172 (13.4%) |
| Front of House | 119 (9.3%) |
| Pizza Maker | 68 (5.3%) |
| Carhop or Skating Carhop | 38 (3.0%) |
| Crew Members | 37 (2.9%) |
| Front of House Team Member | 37 (2.9%) |
| Front Counter Crew Member | 33 (2.6%) |
| Sandwich Maker | 29 (2.3%) |
| Sandwich Artist | 29 (2.3%) |
| Back of House Team Member | 28 (2.2%) |
| Restaurant Crew Member | 24 (1.9%) |
| Subway Sandwich Artist | 23 (1.8%) |
| Back of House | 21 (1.6%) |
| FOH Team Member | 18 (1.4%) |
| Drive Thru | 18 (1.4%) |
| Part Time Team Member | 16 (1.2%) |
| Team Member | 15 (1.2%) |
| Counter Staff | 13 (1.0%) |
| Restaurant Crew | 11 (0.9%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Restaurant team member job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew Member | 16,722 | 489 | $15.50/hr | – | positive attitude, customer service, team player |
| Team Member | 227 | 15 | – | – | – |
| Front of House Team Member | 518 | 37 | – | – | – |
Restaurant Team Member compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Team Member | $15.92/hr | – | 50,537 | – |
| Baker | $18.50/hr | 1 year | 9,167 | 10 |
| Team Leader | $18.00/hr | 1 year | 63,827 | 8 |
| Server | $16.90/hr | 1 year | 28,843 | 12 |
| Cashier | $16.50/hr | 1 year | 36,744 | 12 |
Similar careers
Applying for restaurant team member jobs?
- Restaurant team member resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find restaurant team member jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 20 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.