Cook Salary
Official ONS earnings for the UK, covering 39,000 jobs.
Median salary
£17,885
gross, per year, all employees
Part-time work is common in this occupation, so the figure above sits 35.5% below the £24,228 median for people working full-time.
▲ 10.3% change on the previous year
Full-time only
£24,228
Part-time only
£14,506
Mean
£18,252
Jobs measured
39,000
What most cooks actually earn
Half of cooks earn between £12,752 and £22,817. Earning above £22,817 puts you in the top quarter of the profession.
The full pay range
Each bar is the salary at that percentile — the 25th means a quarter of cooks earn less than this.
Cook salary by region
4 of 11 GB regions have a published figure for this occupation.
| Region | Median | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| North East | £20,553 | £19,856 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £19,373 | £19,224 |
| Scotland | £18,535 | £18,299 |
| Wales | £17,717 | £18,343 |
Where this figure comes from
- ONS occupation group
- Cooks
- SOC 2020 code
- 5435
- Measure
- Gross annual pay, all employees
- Edition
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are estimates from a survey of PAYE jobs and are not financial advice.
Cook salary FAQs
What is the average Cook salary in UK?
The median is £17,885 a year and the mean is £18,252, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Those cover all employees; full-time employees alone have a median of £24,228 and part-time employees £14,506.
What is a good Cook salary?
Half of cooks earn between £12,752 and £22,817. Anything above £22,817 is in the top quarter for the role.
Is this figure official?
Yes. It comes from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, an accredited official statistic based on employer PAYE records, covering 39,000 jobs in this occupation.
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