Food Service Working
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Food Service Working occupation series (code 7408).
The verdict
With 5,692 employees (0.3% of the federal civilian workforce), Food Service Working ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Food Preparation and Serving Family family, and headcount grew 0.0% from the prior period. Its average salary of $49,044 pays below the $117,339 federal average.
- Employees
- 5,692
- Share of workforce
- 0.3%
- Avg salary
- $49,044
- Avg tenure
- 8.2 yrs
FedScope read on Food Service Working (dense series)
0.3% of the federal civilian workforce (1,953,300 employees total, June 2026) works in the Food Service Working occupation (OPM code 7408): 5,692 people, headcount up 0.0% versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.
Food Service Working pays $49,044 per year on average, moving up 0.1% from the prior period (a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change). Employees in this role stay an average of 8.2 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.
Code 74, the Food Preparation and Serving Family family, is where the federal government classifies Food Service Working alongside 5 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Food Service Working postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Food Preparation and Serving Family family.
Inside the Food Preparation and Serving Family family (6 occupations, 10,719 employees combined), Food Service Working holds the #1 spot by headcount, a 53.1% share of the family total. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (0th percentile) of pay among Food Preparation and Serving Family occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Food Service Working pay compares to the federal average of $117,339
Occupation Average
$49,044
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-58.2%
Where Food Service Working ranks on lean federal pay
Its average salary of $49,044 is higher than 5% of federal occupation series (28 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Food Service Working sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; Food Service Working ranks higher than 5%.
Related Occupations in Food Preparation and Serving Family
5 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooking | 3,863 | $72,079 | 12.3 yrs |
| Meatcutting | 1,125 | n/a | 12.9 yrs |
| Baking | 16 | $63,987 | 21.6 yrs |
| Misc Food Preparation and Serving | 13 | n/a | 6.4 yrs |
| Waiter | 10 | n/a | 25.6 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Food Service Working outside the Food Preparation and Serving Family family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (5,692 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($49,044 here).
Key takeaways
- Food Service Working pays below the federal average by 58.2% ($49,044 vs $117,339 federal-wide), at the 5th percentile for pay among 541 tracked occupation series.
- A smaller, specialized federal occupation by headcount: 5,692 employees, 0.3% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount grew 0.0% from the prior period.
- According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Food Service Working ranks #72 of 663 federal occupation series by headcount (the same employee_count ordering as our occupations directory).
- Inside the Food Preparation and Serving Family family (6 occupations, 10,719 employees combined), Food Service Working holds the #1 spot by headcount, a 53.1% share of the family total.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.