Chefs and head cooks job market in Kansas
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Kansas industry employment changed 0.6 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Chefs and head cooks in Kansas.
Occupation pay
What Chefs and head cooks earn in Kansas
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$58,390Kansas- Middle 50% of published wages
- $43,990 – $74,990
- U.S. median annual wage
- $62,470
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Kansas
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Chefs and head cooks, compared with the Kansas median of $58,390.
Kansas City, MO-KS$64,010+9.6% vs. state
Topeka, KS$55,030−5.8% vs. state
Wichita, KS$49,440−15.3% vs. state
Manhattan, KS$48,640−16.7% vs. state
Lawrence, KS$44,700−23.4% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Kansas median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Kansas’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 7,409 represented establishments, 84.3% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for chefs and head cooks in Kansas
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
Among 4 comparable metro estimates associated with Kansas in OEWS May 2025, the pay leader and employment-size leader differ. Topeka, KS has the highest median annual pay at $55,030, with estimated employment of 80. Wichita, KS has the largest employment estimate at 170, with median pay of $49,440. The pay leader's median is 11.3% higher; estimated employment describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
OEWS May 2025 places Kansas's share of employment in chefs and head cooks at 0.46 times the corresponding national share. The published location quotient expresses that comparison. The state estimate is 860 jobs, 0.4% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.60 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Employment concentration does not establish future growth; it describes employment share, not current hiring.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Leisure and hospitality has the largest positive weighted contribution
Among the leading industry groups associated with this occupation in Kansas, Leisure and hospitality has the largest positive weighted contribution in January to March 2026. It accounts for 83.3% of the positive weighted contributions, and its own employment changed +1.2% year over year. The proxy uses each group's share of the occupation's national industry mix; the groups examined cover 96.5% of that mix. Weighted contributions do not count occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is below the U.S. median
A 6.5% difference separates Kansas's median annual wage for chefs and head cooks from the U.S. median in OEWS May 2025. At $58,390, the state median is below the national figure of $62,470. The estimates describe the middle of each wage distribution, without a living-cost adjustment.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Kansas industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Kansas · 2026 Q1+1.2%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.6%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Kansas | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +1.4% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +1.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | -0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.1% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +1.2% | 99.85% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Kansas’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- +0.6%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Chefs and head cooks Work
The occupation mix determines which Kansas industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure and hospitality | 83.4% | +1.2% | 7,409 | $452 |
| Private education and health services | 6.0% | +3.3% | 13,118 | $1,129 |
| Other services | 2.4% | 0.0% | 6,503 | $985 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 1.8% | -1.2% | 11,881 | $869 |
| Professional and business services | 1.8% | -0.2% | 23,505 | $1,828 |
| State and local | 1.2% | +0.8% | 3,891 | $1,022 |
Which industries are growing?
3 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Kansas employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+3.3%
- Leisure and hospitality+1.2%
- State and local+0.8%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Kansas context
Current Kansas Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Kansas. They are not Chefs and head cooks demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Kansas
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 112.69 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 113.55 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 113.03 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 111.99 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 111.72 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 111.91 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 112.73 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 114.59 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 114.35 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 113.59 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 114.82 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 116.36 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 116.62 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 117.84 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide WARN notices
Kansas statewide1 notice in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: This is the number of WARN notices with notice dates in this period in Kansas’s official statewide list. It is a statewide count only, and does not identify any employer.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. WARN covers qualifying large layoffs and closures under applicable law, not all layoffs, and thresholds vary by state.
Kansas Department of Commerce (KANSASWORKS) About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Chefs and head cooks in Kansas FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Chefs and head cooks in Kansas?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Kansas industries weighted to Chefs and head cooks changed +1.2% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.6% nationwide.
Are wages for Chefs and head cooks rising in Kansas?
QCEW does not publish pay for Chefs and head cooks in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.1% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Kansas industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 99.85% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Chefs and head cooks openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 99.85% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Chefs and head cooks
- SOC code
- 35-1011
- State
- Kansas
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +1.2%State data coverage 99.85%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- +0.6%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.6 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +3.5%State data coverage 99.85%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.1%State data coverage 99.85%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/chefs-and-head-cooks/kansas#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.