Fast food and counter workers job market in Indiana
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Indiana industry employment changed 0.6 percentage points below the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Fast food and counter workers in Indiana.
Occupation pay
What Fast food and counter workers earn in Indiana
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$28,790Indiana- Middle 50% of published wages
- $24,630 – $33,210
- U.S. median annual wage
- $31,200
- 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 Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.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 Indiana
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Fast food and counter workers, compared with the Indiana median of $28,790.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$34,630+20.3% vs. state
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$29,720+3.2% vs. state
Kokomo, IN$29,130+1.2% vs. state
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN$29,040+0.9% vs. state
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN$28,690−0.3% vs. state
Fort Wayne, IN$28,360−1.5% vs. state
View 9 more published metro areas
Elkhart-Goshen, IN$28,300−1.7% vs. state
Columbus, IN$28,290−1.7% vs. state
Michigan City-La Porte, IN$28,250−1.9% vs. state
Bloomington, IN$28,230−1.9% vs. state
Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN$28,230−1.9% vs. state
South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI$28,140−2.3% vs. state
Evansville, IN$27,930−3.0% vs. state
Muncie, IN$27,560−4.3% vs. state
Terre Haute, IN$27,020−6.1% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Indiana 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 Indiana’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: 17,582 represented establishments, 88.46% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for fast food and counter workers in Indiana
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.
Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution
The largest positive weighted contribution to the industry employment-growth proxy in Indiana comes from Private education and health services in January to March 2026. Its share of positive weighted contributions is 100.0%, and its own year-over-year employment change is +0.5%. Each leading industry group is weighted using this occupation's national industry mix, of which the groups examined cover 93.0%. This is a proxy comparison, not a count of occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is below the U.S. median
The national median annual wage for fast food and counter workers is $31,200 in OEWS May 2025. Indiana's corresponding estimate is $28,790, or 7.7% below that benchmark. The comparison uses published medians without adjusting for living costs or individual workers' circumstances.
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
Indiana 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.
- Indiana · 2026 Q10.0%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.6%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Indiana | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.1% | 99.64% |
| 2025 Q2 | +0.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | 0.0% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | 0.0% | 93.77% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Indiana’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 Fast food and counter workers Work
The occupation mix determines which Indiana industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure and hospitality | 88.4% | 0.0% | 17,582 | $521 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 5.9% | Not published | 43,609 | $1,163 |
| Private education and health services | 3.5% | +0.5% | 21,662 | $1,250 |
| Manufacturing | 0.7% | -0.8% | 9,510 | $1,919 |
| State and local | 0.4% | -0.5% | 3,854 | $1,126 |
| Information | 0.4% | Not published | 3,446 | $1,839 |
Which industries are growing?
One weighted industry is growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Indiana employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+0.5%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Indiana context
Current Indiana Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Indiana. They are not Fast food and counter workers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Indiana
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 | 94.78 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 94.73 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 94.02 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 93.66 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 93.42 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 94.23 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 94.81 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 95.62 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 96.02 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 95.84 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 95.34 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 96.05 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 95.43 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 95.99 |
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 layoff-notice filings
Indiana statewide7 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Indiana’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
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. Indiana’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
Indiana Department of Workforce Development 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
Fast food and counter workers in Indiana FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Fast food and counter workers in Indiana?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Indiana industries weighted to Fast food and counter workers changed 0.0% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.6% nationwide.
Are wages for Fast food and counter workers rising in Indiana?
QCEW does not publish pay for Fast food and counter workers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +3.1% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Indiana industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 93.77% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Fast food and counter workers 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 93.77% · 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
- Fast food and counter workers
- SOC code
- 35-3023
- State
- Indiana
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- 0.0%State data coverage 93.77%
- 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
- +0.4%State data coverage 93.77%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +3.1%State data coverage 99.64%
- 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/fast-food-and-counter-workers/indiana#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.