Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Server / Waiter Career Market Report 2026

5,280 active jobs. 350 companies. Median salary $35K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

5,280
Active Job Openings
350
Companies Hiring
$35K
Median Salary (US)
76%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Server / Waiter market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 76% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $35K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $25K to $42K.

Customer Service is the most-demanded skill at 20%

Food Safety demand rose +12.1pp — fastest-growing skill

Greeneking leads hiring with 975 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Junior → Mid-Level (+$57K, +251%)

Salary increase: +$57K · Sample: Junior → Mid-Level

AI automation risk: medium-high (score 70/100)

Score: 70/100 · AI/LLM demand: 0% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Junior65$17K$23K$39K
Senior18$89K$120K$147K
Staff11$5K$5K$5K
Entry-Level4$36K$37K$37K
Mid-Level4$46K$80K$99K
Director4$144K$144K$165K

What jumps out

Junior → Mid-Level: +$57K (251%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States393$35KUSD
Canada8$35KUSD
United Kingdom7$31KUSD
Australia7$36KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site0.4%
Remote0.4%
Hybrid0.0%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

Customer Service
20%
Scheduling
16%
Food Safety
15%
Culinary
7%
Community Outreach
5%
Swift
4%
Point of Sale
4%
Cash Handling
3%
AI/LLM
2%
Linux
1%
SQL
1%
AWS
1%

Skills on the Rise

Food Safety ↑+12.1ppCommunity Outreach ↑+4.6ppSwift ↑+4.1ppPoint of Sale ↑+3.9pp

Declining in Demand

Customer Service ↓-11.4ppSustainability ↓-10.1ppAttention to Detail ↓-9.3ppScheduling ↓-6.3ppIntellectual Property ↓-4.7pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Greeneking97518.5%
Ilitch54910.4%
Papajohns4969.4%
Pfchangs2645.0%
Shakeshack2274.3%
Panerabread2244.2%
Dominos2094.0%
Accorhotel1452.7%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States2,482
United Kingdom1,119
Canada100
Greece64
India34
Australia33
South Korea26
Spain21

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree88.5%3,527
Master's Degree1.9%76
Bachelor's Degree0.9%36
High School / GED0.4%15
PhD / Doctorate0.2%8
MBA0.0%1

Certifications

All certifications below 1% threshold. Certifications carry minimal weight in this profession's hiring decisions.

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