Minnesota / Veterans Affairs Department / Cook
Job-title file
Cook
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
55 employees hold this title in Veterans Affairs Department. Median total compensation for the role is $45,036, below the department median of $55,734.
- Employees
- 55
- Total payroll
- $2.3M
- Role median
- $45,036
- Agency median
- $55,734
- Comparison
- Below
What the records show
Role pay distribution
Pay distribution for this role
How total compensation varies among the 55 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Cook pay vs. Minnesota
Across all employers in Minnesota, the median wage for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — about 7,890 people — is $43,460. Veterans Affairs Department pays a median base salary of $52,797 for this role, 21% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Veterans Affairs Department sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria across every employer in Minnesota, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Veterans Affairs Department’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. Veterans Affairs Department’s median base salary is 41% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
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 Minnesota range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 35 of 55 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 Veterans Affairs Department is $45,036, 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.
Compare departments
This role across Minnesota
Cook is held in 6 Minnesota departments. In Veterans Affairs Department, the median of $45,036 ranks #4 of 6.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Cook role in other Minnesotadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
Cook beyond Minnesota
This role is reported in 20 jurisdictions. In Minnesota, the median of $47,360 ranks #7 of 20. See Cook across all of Minnesota →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Cookroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Employees with this title
Page 1
No employees match these filters.