The Barista Pay Report 2026

What baristas are paid, state by state, from the newest federal wage data. Every number below comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS program (May 2025 estimates, published 2026), fetched and verified on July 8, 2026. Sort the table, read the findings, and download the full dataset at the bottom.

Five findings

1. The national median is $15.00 an hour. Across 3,854,050 fast food and counter workers (the federal occupation that includes baristas), median pay is $15.00 an hour, or $31,200 a year at the published annual median. The mean is $15.46.
2. California pays the most, Mississippi the least. California's median is $20.33 an hour; Mississippi's is $10.87. That is an 87% gap between the highest and lowest state medians for the same work.
3. The top five are West Coast and New England, plus DC. California ($20.33), Washington ($18.13), District of Columbia ($18.00), Colorado ($17.44), and Vermont ($17.32) lead. The bottom five: Mississippi ($10.87), Louisiana ($10.96), Oklahoma ($11.27), Alabama ($11.40), and West Virginia ($12.54).
4. Every state median clears the federal minimum by at least $3.62 an hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 (unchanged since July 24, 2009). The national median is 2.1x that figure, and even Mississippi's median sits $3.62 above it.
5. The middle half of the occupation earns $13.32 to $17.34. Nationally, the 25th percentile is $13.32 an hour and the 75th is $17.34; the top 10% earn above $20.51 and the bottom 10% below $10.98. Only 21 of the 51 states (counting DC) have a median at or above the national $15.00.

Median hourly pay by state, May 2025

* Territory (Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands), shown for completeness; state rankings above exclude territories. National median for reference: $15.00.

Methodology and limits

Figures are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, May 2025 estimates, for occupation 35-3023 Fast Food and Counter Workers, pulled series by series from the BLS Public Data API on July 8, 2026. There is no standalone federal wage series for baristas: the government classifies baristas inside 35-3023 (O*NET lists Baristas as detailed occupation 35-3023.01 under it), so these numbers describe the whole counter-worker occupation, of which coffee shop staff are one part. Two more limits worth knowing. First, OEWS wages are employer-reported straight-time pay; tips are included in the definition but employer-reported tips are widely considered undercounted, so real take-home for baristas in busy shops likely runs higher than these figures. Second, OEWS estimates combine survey panels collected over three years, so single-year swings are smoothed. Sources: BLS OEWS tables, OEWS wage definition, O*NET 35-3023.01 Baristas, DOL federal minimum wage.

Earning more than the median

The table is the market rate; tips and negotiation are how baristas beat it. Our full breakdown of base pay, tip patterns by shop type, and the raise conversation lives in how much baristas actually make, and the Barista Career Kit packages the interview prep, resume templates, and negotiation scripts that move you up this table without moving states. Job hunting right now? Start at the job board and build a one-page resume with the free resume builder.

Use this data

The full dataset (national percentiles plus all 50 states, DC, and 3 territories, with source URLs baked in) is published as open JSON: free with attribution ("data by Barista Life," linked) for non-commercial use, $99 commercial license per product via the data licensing page. Journalists: cite "Barista Life analysis of BLS OEWS May 2025 data" and you are covered.