Compared with the local labor market
Cook pay vs. Arkansas
Across all employers in Arkansas, the median wage for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — about 6,530 people — is $30,240. AR Department of Human Services pays a median base salary of $33,280 for this role, 10% above that figure — about the 65th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where AR Department of Human Services sits in the local pay range
$25,810
$28,300
$30,240
$35,300
$39,720
AR Department of Human Services median · $33,280
The bar is the range of annual wages for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria across every employer in Arkansas, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows AR Department of Human Services’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. AR Department of Human Services’s median base salary is 11% below that national figure, about the 29th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$28,480
$32,440
$37,450
$44,800
$49,670
AR Department of Human Services median · $33,280
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 Arkansas range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 113 of 115 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 AR Department of Human Services is $33,280, 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.