Cooks, fast food job market in Pennsylvania
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Pennsylvania industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Cooks, fast food in Pennsylvania.
Occupation pay
What Cooks, fast food earn in Pennsylvania
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$28,810Pennsylvania- Middle 50% of published wages
- $25,120 – $35,610
- U.S. median annual wage
- $30,890
- 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 Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.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 Pennsylvania
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Cooks, fast food, compared with the Pennsylvania median of $28,810.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD$32,220+11.8% vs. state
State College, PA$29,020+0.7% vs. state
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ$28,760−0.2% vs. state
York-Hanover, PA$28,520−1.0% vs. state
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA$27,840−3.4% vs. state
Lancaster, PA$27,260−5.4% vs. state
View 5 more published metro areas
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA$27,070−6.0% vs. state
Pittsburgh, PA$26,620−7.6% vs. state
Chambersburg, PA$26,550−7.8% vs. state
Gettysburg, PA$26,350−8.5% vs. state
Altoona, PA$25,020−13.2% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania’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: 35,200 represented establishments, 97.17% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for cooks, fast food in Pennsylvania
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
Pennsylvania's share of employment in cooks, fast food differs from the national share in OEWS May 2025. The published location quotient of 0.37 expresses the state share as 0.37 times the national share. The state estimate is 9,240 jobs, 1.4% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 1.52 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The ratio describes employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.
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
The leading industry groups examined cover 99.9% of this occupation's national industry mix. Within that comparison for Pennsylvania in January to March 2026, Leisure and hospitality accounts for 99.9% of the positive weighted contributions, with its own employment changing +1.0% year over year. These contributions weight industry growth by the national industry mix and do not count occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPay differs widely between metro areas
Altoona, PA and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD define the low and high ends of this published median-pay comparison for Pennsylvania. Their estimates are $25,020 and $32,220, respectively, in OEWS May 2025; the high end is 28.8% higher. The comparison includes 11 metro areas on the same wage basis and does not measure living costs or job availability.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSMetro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
Pennsylvania's published median annual wage for cooks, fast food is 6.7% below the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $28,810, compared with $30,890 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.
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
Pennsylvania 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.
- Pennsylvania · 2026 Q1+0.9%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.6%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Pennsylvania | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +1.6% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +1.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | +0.7% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +1.3% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +0.9% | 99.97% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Pennsylvania’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 Cooks, fast food Work
The occupation mix determines which Pennsylvania industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure and hospitality | 97.1% | +1.0% | 35,200 | $564 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 2.4% | -1.3% | 74,006 | $1,221 |
| Manufacturing | 0.1% | -1.3% | 14,641 | $1,643 |
| Professional and business services | 0.1% | -0.5% | 83,388 | $2,370 |
| State and local | 0.1% | +0.3% | 10,459 | $1,356 |
| Private education and health services | 0.1% | +1.9% | 59,621 | $1,294 |
Which industries are growing?
3 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Pennsylvania employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+1.9%
- Leisure and hospitality+1.0%
- State and local+0.3%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Pennsylvania context
Current Pennsylvania Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Pennsylvania. They are not Cooks, fast food demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Pennsylvania
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 | 98.11 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 97.59 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 97.16 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 97.19 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 97.51 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 97.55 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 97.44 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 97.87 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 98.49 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 98.87 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 99.45 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 99.93 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 99.14 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 98.33 |
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
Monthly WARN notices in Pennsylvania
Monthly measurementMonth received in the official state listing. Exact notice days are not published. Effective layoff dates are not used as notice dates.
| Month | Notice entries |
|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 9 |
| Sep 2026 | 6 |
| Oct 2026 | 7 |
| Three-month total | 22 |
Nov 2026: not listed in the source — unavailable, not zero; excluded from the total.
Counts describe published notice entries, not unique employers or confirmed job losses. Explicit revisions are excluded as new notices. Missing months remain unavailable; source revisions may change counts.
Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry
Source last checked . This check does not certify a newly published report.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Cooks, fast food in Pennsylvania FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Cooks, fast food in Pennsylvania?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Pennsylvania industries weighted to Cooks, fast food changed +0.9% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.6% nationwide.
Are wages for Cooks, fast food rising in Pennsylvania?
QCEW does not publish pay for Cooks, fast food in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +1.4% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Pennsylvania industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 99.97% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Cooks, fast food 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 99.97% · 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
- Cooks, fast food
- SOC code
- 35-2011
- State
- Pennsylvania
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +0.9%State data coverage 99.97%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- +0.6%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.3 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
- +1.8%State data coverage 99.97%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +1.4%State data coverage 99.97%
- 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/cooks-fast-food/pennsylvania#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.