Cook

Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — about 9,860 people — is $45,400. Public Health pays a median base salary of $54,842 for this role, 21% above that figure — about the 83rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Public Health is $99,873, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Cook is held in 2 Los Angeles County departments. In Public Health, the median of $99,873 ranks #2 of 2.

This role is reported in 20 jurisdictions. In Los Angeles County, the median of $106,337 ranks #2 of 20. See Cook across all of Los Angeles County →