Waiters and waitresses job market in Washington
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Washington industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Waiters and waitresses in Washington.
Occupation pay
What Waiters and waitresses earn in Washington
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$56,130Washington- Middle 50% of published wages
- $45,910 – $73,840
- U.S. median annual wage
- $35,230
- 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 Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.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 Washington
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Waiters and waitresses, compared with the Washington median of $56,130.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$57,280+2.0% vs. state
Walla Walla, WA$56,730+1.1% vs. state
Bellingham, WA$56,700+1.0% vs. state
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA$55,270−1.5% vs. state
Longview-Kelso, WA$54,870−2.2% vs. state
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA$54,780−2.4% vs. state
View 7 more published metro areas
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA$53,060−5.5% vs. state
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA$53,000−5.6% vs. state
Kennewick-Richland, WA$51,460−8.3% vs. state
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA$49,820−11.2% vs. state
Yakima, WA$49,060−12.6% vs. state
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA$48,560−13.5% vs. state
Lewiston, ID-WA$36,240−35.4% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Washington 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 Washington’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: 22,164 represented establishments, 95.7% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for waiters and waitresses in Washington
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
Published median pay is above the U.S. median
Median annual pay in Washington stands 59.3% above the U.S. estimate for waiters and waitresses. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $56,130 for the state and $35,230 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSPay differs widely between metro areas
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA define the low and high ends of this published median-pay comparison for Washington. Their estimates are $48,560 and $57,280, respectively, in OEWS May 2025; the high end is 18.0% 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.
Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Washington 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.
- Washington · 2026 Q1+0.2%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.7%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Washington | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.7% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.7% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +0.2% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Washington’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
- +0.7%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Waiters and waitresses Work
The occupation mix determines which Washington industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure and hospitality | 95.7% | +0.2% | 22,164 | $714 |
| Manufacturing | 0.8% | -1.0% | 8,081 | $2,301 |
| Private education and health services | 0.8% | +2.6% | 29,031 | $1,398 |
| Professional and business services | 0.7% | -0.2% | 56,930 | $2,959 |
| State and local | 0.6% | +1.0% | 3,891 | $1,662 |
| Other services | 0.6% | +1.3% | 20,382 | $1,166 |
Which industries are growing?
4 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Washington employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+2.6%
- Other services+1.3%
- State and local+1.0%
- Leisure and hospitality+0.2%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Washington context
Current Washington Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Washington. They are not Waiters and waitresses demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Washington
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 | 75.55 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 75.03 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 74.78 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 74.80 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 74.71 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 75.17 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 75.89 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 76.86 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 76.80 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 76.72 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 76.55 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 76.65 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 76.41 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 76.78 |
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
Washington statewide62 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 Washington’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. Washington’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.
Washington Employment Security Department 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
Waiters and waitresses in Washington FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Waiters and waitresses in Washington?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Washington industries weighted to Waiters and waitresses changed +0.2% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.7% nationwide.
Are wages for Waiters and waitresses rising in Washington?
QCEW does not publish pay for Waiters and waitresses in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.2% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Washington industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Waiters and waitresses 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 100% · 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
- Waiters and waitresses
- SOC code
- 35-3031
- State
- Washington
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +0.2%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- +0.7%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- -0.4 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
- +1.1%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.2%State data coverage 100%
- 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/waiters-and-waitresses/washington#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.