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Role hub · Baristas

Barista: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of baristas earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$31,200
Hourly
$15.00
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Baristas prepare or serve specialty coffee or other beverages. The median pay is $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).

Median pay
$31,200
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
3,854,050
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 2 of 5
some preparation
Explore the role

Every page for Baristas

SalaryBarista salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →ResumeBarista resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsBarista interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What baristas do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Clean or sanitize work areas, utensils, or equipment.
  2. Receive and process customer payments.
  3. Prepare or serve hot or cold beverages, such as coffee, espresso drinks, blended coffees, or teas.
  4. Take customer orders and convey them to other employees for preparation.
  5. Clean service or seating areas.
  6. Prepare or serve menu items, such as sandwiches or salads.
  7. Wrap, label, or date food items for sale.
  8. Check temperatures of freezers, refrigerators, or heating equipment to ensure proper functioning.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Service OrientationcoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingcoreSocial PerceptivenessCoordinationMonitoringReading ComprehensionOperation and ControlCritical Thinking

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Administration and Management, Sales and Marketing, Food Production, English Language.

Tools and technology

Software baristas use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft WordWord processing softwareHot technology

Also called: Bobarista, Catering Barista.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).