Iowa · SOC 35-0000 · Annual, 2025

Food preparation and serving related occupations in Iowa

Employment and average annual wage for SOC 35-0000 in Iowa, 2004–2025, from DTG's OEWS-based estimates.

In 2025, about 132,600 people in Iowa worked in food preparation and serving related occupations (SOC 35-0000), with an average annual wage of $32,630.

Employment in food preparation and serving related occupations in Iowa grew 17.7% from 2020 to 2025. The average wage in this occupation group is 48.4% below the all-occupations average in Iowa. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 132,600. Quarterly values, full occupation detail and projections to 2036 for Iowa are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 132,600Employment, 2025
  • $32,630Mean annual wage
  • 8.5%Share of Iowa jobs
  • 0.97Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in food preparation and serving related occupations in Iowa, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 118,500 to 132,600.050K100K150K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 118,500; 2005 121,300; 2006 124,000; 2007 126,100; 2008 124,900; 2009 123,200; 2010 121,300; 2011 122,700; 2012 125,000; 2013 127,100; 2014 128,500; 2015 130,500; 2016 131,400; 2017 132,300; 2018 132,600; 2019 131,900; 2020 112,700; 2021 117,300; 2022 122,400; 2023 127,300; 2024 132,000; 2025 132,600.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentMean annual wageChange
2025132,635$32,634 0.5%
2024132,011$31,813 3.7%
2023127,268$31,094 4.0%
2022122,361$29,671 4.3%
2021117,260$27,805 4.0%
2020112,700$26,247 14.6%
2019131,941$24,086 0.5%
2018132,570$23,457 0.2%
2017132,254$22,578 0.7%
2016131,353$21,988 0.7%

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Every occupation value is a DTG estimate: there is no published county or state census of occupations to report, so no value here is marked as published or estimated, and none carries a reliability score. Quarterly figures, county figures, detailed occupations and projected years are in the app.

How these figures are built

DTG’s industry employment fixes how many jobs there are in each industry in the state. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ national industry-occupation matrix says how each industry is staffed, and the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey says how many people work in each occupation in the area and what they earn. DTG makes the three agree, so occupation employment sums to the same totals as industry employment. Employment is the annual average; the mean annual wage is the year’s total occupation wages divided by that average employment. The construction is described in full on the occupation data page.

Occupation values are DTG estimates built on OEWS and DTG's industry data, as described in the methodology. Method: Occupation.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Food preparation and serving related occupations in Iowa, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for food preparation and serving related occupations in Iowa. A free account shows every detailed occupation in the group, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.