Food Service salary guide
Salary Needed for Restaurant Cooks in Connecticut
Restaurant Cooks in Connecticut: compare salary needs with estimated annual costs. Basic costs are about $56,751, while a 20% cushion is about $68,101.
Updated with BLS OEWS source metadata from May 2025; cost estimates reflect current WatchPennies county-level data.
Salary adequacy in Connecticut
WatchPennies compares restaurant cook salary context with statewide median county costs for a single adult household. The comfort target adds a 20% cushion for savings, emergencies, and month-to-month variation.
Baseline annual costs
$56,751
About $4,729 per month.
Comfort salary target
$68,101
About $5,675 per month.
OEWS median salary
$39,480
Adequacy versus comfort target: 58%.
The available salary benchmark is $28,621 below the WatchPennies comfort target for Connecticut.
Estimated cost mix
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Connecticut cost of living
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Common questions
What salary is needed for restaurant cooks in Connecticut?
WatchPennies estimates baseline annual costs around $56,751 for a single adult household in Connecticut. A 20% comfort cushion is about $68,101.
Does this page use an official Connecticut wage benchmark?
Yes. The occupation wage benchmark on this page is imported from BLS OEWS.
What costs are included in the salary-needed estimate?
The estimate includes housing, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare where applicable, other necessities, taxes, and income context from WatchPennies cost data.
Related occupation pages
Sources
Wage benchmark fields are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025, last modified 2026-05-15). Cost estimates use WatchPennies county cost data for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare, necessities, taxes, and income context.