As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Sous Chef in the United States is $25. While Salary.com is seeing that Sous Chef salary in the US can go up to $31 or down to $19, but most earn between $22 and $28. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Sous Chef in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $28 | $2 | $1 | $0 |
| Average | $25 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $22 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Sous Chef with under 1 year experience makes about $49,745. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Sous Chef makes around $50,024. After 2-4 years, the Sous Chef pay rises to about $50,956. Those senior Sous Chef with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $53,248, and those Sous Chef having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $54,520 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Sous Chef | $49,745 |
| Intermediate Level Sous Chef | $50,024 |
| Senior Level Sous Chef | $50,956 |
| Specialist Level Sous Chef | $53,248 |
| Expert Level Sous Chef | $54,520 |
| Entry Level | 4% |
| Mid Level | 4% |
| Senior Level | 2% |
| Top Level | 2% |
| Experienced | 5% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Sous Chef is $57,438 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $56,672. While in New Jersey, a Sous Chef earns $56,443 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Sous Chef in San Francisco, CA is $65,035 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $60,349. While a Sous Chef earns $58,078 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Sous Chef salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of April 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in Sous Chef compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $43,480 in 2023 to about $43,221 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of Sous Chef salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of Sous Chef information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Sous Chef job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Sous Chef and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $52,074 | 67.8% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $3,984 | 5.2% | ||
| 401K/403B | $2,187 | 2.8% | ||
| Disability | $1,041 | 1.4% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 10.9% | ||
| Pension | $2,812 | 3.7% | ||
| Time Off | $6,409 | 8.3% | ||
| Total Compensation | $76,860 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 2.1% |
| High School | 23.5% |
| Associates | 53.8% |
| Bachelors | 19.9% |
| Masters | 0.6% |
What Am I Worth?
Assists the Executive Chef in the daily kitchen operations including menu development, purchasing, inventory, cost control, and sanitation. Oversees the activities of the kitchen staff and monitors food production and presentation. Resolves operational issues. Performs quality checks on ingredients and prepared dishes. Complies with all safety and food sanitation laws and regulations. Supervises, trains, and mentors staff. May require an associate degree in culinary arts or equivalent. Typically reports to an executive chef. Working team member that may validate or coordinate the work of others on a support team. Suggests improvements to process, is a knowledge resource for other team members. Has no authority for staff actions. Generally has a minimum of 2 years experience as an individual contributor. Thorough knowledge of the team processes.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Customer Service: Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. The perception of success of such interactions is dependent on employees "who can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest". Customer service concerns the priority an organization assigns to customer service relative to components such as product innovation and pricing. In this sense, an organization that values good customer service may spend more money in training employees than the average organization or may proactively interview customers for feedback. From the point of view of an overall sales process engineering effort, customer service plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue. From that perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall approach to systematic improvement. One good customer service experience can change the entire perception a customer holds towards the organization.
Culinary Arts: Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals
Purchasing: Purchasing refers to a business or organization attempting to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Typically the word “purchasing” is not used interchangeably with the word “procurement”, since procurement typically includes expediting, supplier quality, and transportation and logistics (T&L) in addition to purchasing.
