Cooks, Private Household
Prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Cooks, Private Household. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $36,090 | $17.35 |
| 25th | $40,630 | $19.54 |
| 50th · Median | $47,940 | $23.05 |
| 75th | $55,450 | $26.66 |
| 90th | $91,130 | $43.81 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (3)
Typical tasks
- Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
- Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
- Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
- Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
- Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
- Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.
Expand more tasks (7)
- Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
- Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.
- Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
- Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.
- Create and explore new cuisines.
- Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.
- Travel with employers to vacation homes to provide meal preparation at those locations.
Skills used in this work
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Expand more skills (29)
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
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