Salary by City for Executive Chef Jobs

Executive Chef Salary Data

Is the salary of an executive chef in New York higher than in Los Angeles? How does the median salary of a chef vary by years of experience? What are typical executive chef salaries after a year of work? The answers to these common questions and many more can be found with PayScale's executive chef salary data.

The Salary of a Chef is affected by a wide range of factors. For example, the Median Salary by City chart above shows that the median salary of a chef working in New York tends to be significantly higher than the median salary of a chef in many other cities. Analyzing a Chef Salary by Years Experience shows that, more so than in many other professions, the salary of an executive chef is heavily influenced by years spent in the job. While chef salaries may start out relatively low, most chefs can look forward to much higher salaries as their careers progress. Of course, many chefs enter this career as a labor of love - the love of food as well as the thrill of running a kitchen or owning a restaurant - and earning fame or fortune is just icing on the cake. There are a variety of work settings available to executive chefs, including hotels, restaurants and catering businesses. But not all jobs are equal when it comes to salary. According to the chart on Executive Chef Salary by Industry, the highest chef salary tends to go to those working in hotels.

Average Chef Salaries

Dr. Salary may not know a bechamel sauce from a bernaise sauce, but he does know why, "what is the median executive chef salary" is a more productive question than, "what is the average executive chef salary." Do you? Find out in the Ask. Dr. Salary article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"