The sous chef is the second-in-command of a professional kitchen, and the federal ledger now prices the job with unusual clarity. Federal data puts the median for chefs and head cooks at $62,470 a year in 2025. In New York State, workers in the same occupation average $70,670, per O*NET.
That spread matters in a city where a Midtown hotel brigade and a West Village bistro run on the same federal payroll reports. The sous chef title sits inside the government’s chefs and head cooks code, which means every line in the ledger applies to the person running the pass while the executive chef works the phone.
What does a sous chef actually do?
The job is part cook, part manager, and the official record treats it that way. Per O*NET, the chefs and head cooks occupation lists Executive Sous Chef and Sous Chef among its reported job titles, next to Executive Chef and Kitchen Manager. The listed tasks include instructing cooks in food preparation and monitoring sanitation practices so crews follow standards and regulations.
In service terms, the sous chef translates the menu into staffing, prep lists, and timing. The role keeps records and accounts, per the same task list. When the executive chef is off the line, the sous chef owns the pass. When the dining room fills, the sous chef owns the pace. It is the rung where cooking turns into management.
What does the job pay in New York?
The New York numbers, sourced to Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data on O*NET’s state wage page: workers in the occupation average $70,670 in the state. The middle half earns between $55,070 and $93,240. The bottom 10 percent earn $46,260 or less. The top 10 percent clear $120,370.
The New York-Newark-Jersey City metro, the report that covers the five boroughs, shows a median of $71,780 and a top decile of $120,370. Nationally, the occupation pays a median of $62,470, with a bottom decile of $37,900. A cook stepping up to a first sous title in the city starts near the local floor, not the national one. We covered a connected angle in Why New York chefs cook staff meal first: the kitchen's own dinner, explained.
How long is the week?
The hours are the catch in the ledger. On O*NET’s work context survey for the occupation, 79 percent responded “more than 40 hours” to the duration of the typical work week. The count includes executives and banquet chefs as well as sous chefs, and kitchen schedules bend around service, so the number reads as a floor rather than a ceiling.
Run the arithmetic against the median and the trade gets visible. A $62,470 salary spread over a 45-hour week prices out far below the hourly figure on paper. In New York, the $70,670 average softens the gap. It does not close it. The city’s higher rents take their share of the difference before the first subway ride. For related coverage, see The stage, explained: how New York kitchens run the tryout shift that decides who gets hired.
Who stays, and who moves up?
The occupation counted 220,300 jobs in 2025, per O*NET, with projected growth of 7 percent or higher from 2025 to 2035 and 25,200 projected openings a year. That openings count blends expansion with replacement, and replacement is where churn shows up. Kitchens promote from inside, and the decile spread is the ladder: the jump from the bottom 10 percent to the middle documents a move from cook to sous chef, and the jump past $120,370 marks executive territory.
For a sous chef, the ledger argues for patience and for a counteroffer. Pay rises with the title and with the size of the operation. The hours rarely shrink with either.
Conclusion: read the ledger before the apron
The sous chef job is the load-bearing wall of a New York kitchen, and the federal data prices it honestly. The median lands near $70,000 in the state, the week runs past 40 hours for most of the field, and the openings keep coming. Anyone weighing the title should read the numbers first. The work deserves that much.
