Service Occupations

Major Occupation Group

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2023 Workforce
24.6M
Average Age
38.5
Average Salary
$33,396
Average Male Salary
$40,959
Average Female Salary
$27,344

About

Service Occupations are most often employed by the Restaurants & Food Services industry. The average yearly wage for Service Occupations was $33,396 in 2023.

About the photo: Ristorante Italiano in New York City
Photo by Michele Ursino

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Service Occupations workforce. Service Occupations workforce in 2023 was 24,612,269 people, of which 55.5% were women and 44.5% were men. Service Occupations are paid most in NYC-Manhattan Community District 4--Chelsea & Hell's Kitchen PUMA, NY but are relatively concentrated in NYC-Bronx Community District 5--Morris Heights & Mount Hope PUMA, NY.

Employment Over Time

Metric
Grouping
10,940,643
Male Workforce
± 78.3k
13,671,626
Female Workforce
± 86.6k

The Service Occupations workforce in 2023 was 24,612,269 people (55.5% women and 44.5% men). This implies an average annual growth of 1.28% between 2014 (24,302,152) and 2023 (24,612,269).

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Employment by Location

Level
Metric

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by average wage for Service Occupations.

During 2023, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were District of Columbia ($42,796), Hawaii ($40,027), and New York ($39,856).

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Yearly Wage Ranking

$33,396
AVERAGE WAGE
#6 in the ranking (2023)
$67,727
NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE
For all occupations across the US

In 2023, Service Occupations earned an average of $33,396, $34,331 less than the average national salary of $67,727

Service Occupations are the lowest paid occupation in the US followed by Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations. This chart shows the various occupations closest to Service Occupations as measured by average annual salary in the US.

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Wage Distribution

Gender
0.456
WAGE GINI

In 2023, Service Occupations had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.456, which is lower than the national average of 0.476. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Service Occupations (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Service Occupations compared to the entire workforce in the country.

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Industry

Information on the industries that employ Service Occupations and on wages for those in the field. Restaurants & Food Services is the industry that employs the most Service Occupations, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Service Occupations, by average wage, is Electric & gas, and other combinations ($90,763).

Occupations by Industries

Metric
Value
24.6M
2023 Workforce
± 111,604
−1.15%
1 YEAR GROWTH
± 0.646%

This graphic shows the share of Service Occupations employed by various industries. Restaurants & Food Services employs the largest share of Service Occupations at 60.9%, followed by Justice, public order, & safety activities with 17.4% and General medical and surgical hospitals, and specialty (except psychiatric and substance abuse) hospitals with 11.1%.

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Diversity

Demographic information on Service Occupations in the US. The workforce of Service Occupations in 2023 was 24,612,269 people, with 55.5% woman, and 44.5% men. The average age of male Service Occupations in the workforce is 38.3 and of female Service Occupations is 38.7, and the most common race/ethnicity for Service Occupations is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Service Occupations in 2023 was 24,612,269 people, with 55.5% woman, and 44.5% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 20 to 24 years (3,631,848 people), 25 to 29 years (2,826,769  people), and 30 to 34 years (2,528,467 people). Among them they concentrated 36.5% of the total workforce.

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Ethnicity

Gender

In 2023, 25.3% of Service Occupations workers were Hispanic and 74.7% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (57.1%), Puerto Rican (11)%, and Salvadoran (5.17)%

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Races

In 2023, 55% of the Service Occupations workforce were White, of which 54.8% were women and 45.2% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (12%).

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Education & Skills

Data on higher education choices for Service Occupations from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Service Occupations is Business but the most specialized major according to RCA in 2023 were Personal & Culinary Services.

Among the necessary skills for Service Occupations, Active Listening stands, but the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Service Occupations need more than the average amount of Service Orientation.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.
Type of Majors
Degree

The most common majors achieved by Service Occupations in 2023 (counting all academic degrees) were Business (597,279 people), Protective Services (343,913 people), and Health (271,913 people).

You can review this information for different academic grades by modifying the option selected in the selector above.

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Education Levels

Metric

The main educational levels achieved by the Service Occupations workers were High School or Equivalent (8,242,750 people), Some college (6,467,523 people), and Secondary Education (3,025,390 people).

The graphic shows the Service Occupations workforce by gender and educational level.

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Skills

Chart
Value

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for Service Occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Service Occupations need many skills, but most especially Active Listening, Speaking, Reading Comprehension.

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