What is the Average Salary for a Chef Working in Maryland?
Career News July 19, 2014Overview of the Payment Rate
The amount of the average chef salary in Maryland depends mostly on the type of chef you aim to be. There are plenty of restaurants and even more positions available in Maryland, some more prestigious than others and therefore better paying.
Over the last two years, salaries in Maryland have been rising and falling, reaching peaks in July 2012 and April 2013. In October 2012 and October 2013, the biggest drops in the payment of the chefs have been noted.
Types of Chefs and Salaries
Either way, you have to be well aware of the type of chef you want to become in order to get a realistic perspective regarding your salary. There are executive chefs, pastry cooks, sous chefs, and corporate chefs, and the work varies in accordance with the type of restaurant.
The financial success of the restaurant and number of chefs working in the kitchen is also a major factor. If you are an assistant, your average chef salary in Maryland will obviously be less than that of the main chef, whose orders you will have to follow.
Scale of Type and Payment
According to the statistics, the lowest paid type of chef is the line cook, followed by the pastry chef. High above are the decently paid sous chefs (executive sous chefs are always paid more), followed by the even better paid restaurant chefs and then by the executive chefs, whose salary can go as high as $68,000. The competition is won by the Corporative Chefs whose salary can go well beyond $100,000 annually.
There are also many other different types of chefs who are paid in different scales, but as a whole, the usual number varies between $50,000 and $60,000 per year. Such types of chefs are chef instructors, bakery chefs, culinary chefs, cruise ship chefs, hibachi chefs, gourmet chefs, chefs de partie, and many others.
Numbers
An average chef salary in Maryland has gone as low as $28,000 a year with the case of a line cook and as high as $89,000 a year for an executive chef. Salaries in Maryland can go particularly high with corporate chefs, sometimes as high as $115,000 per year. You have to understand that this is a relatively superb payment for a chef in the United States.
However, there is also the fact that the cost of living in Maryland is about 40% higher than the average in the United States, so you shouldn’t be expecting a drastic improvement in your lifestyle. That being said, working as any type of chef in Maryland will be profitable, and as more time passes, the higher your salary will be.
This is a career that offers personal rewards in addition to monetary value. Most people who love cooking are delighted to work in a facility and industry that respects their art, patience, and commitment to making each meal excellent. Networking will also help you stay employed, as your skills are praised publicly and your name shared.
