Compared with the local labor market
*Cook pay vs. the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area
Across all employers in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, the median wage for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — about 15,270 people — is $46,870. Department of Correction pays a median base salary of $44,303 for this role, 5% below that figure — about the 39th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Correction sits in the local pay range
$36,320
$40,860
$46,870
$53,110
$60,160
Department of Correction median · $44,303
The bar is the range of annual wages for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria across every employer in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Correction’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — about 441,050 people — is $37,450. Department of Correction’s median base salary is 18% above that national figure, about the 73rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$28,480
$32,440
$37,450
$44,800
$49,670
Department of Correction median · $44,303
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 64 of 84 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Correction is $51,871, 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.