Bartenders
Also called Mixologist, Bar manager, Lead bartender, Craft bartender, Bar supervisor
In brief
In May 2025, BLS counted 756,390 US bartenders, with median pay of $34,340 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 50,000 from 1900, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for bartenders: Restaurant POS systems + inventory management software, 2000 to 2020.
What the sources say
Official outlook
BLS projects employment to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035.
AI exposure studies
- 13.9% of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. Eloundou and others, 2023
- 0.77 estimated probability that the whole occupation could be computerised, over an unspecified number of years. Not a forecast of job losses. Frey and Osborne, 2013
Since the 2013 prediction
In 2013, Frey and Osborne put this job's probability of computerisation at 0.77. BLS counted 555,560 of these jobs in May 2013 and 756,390 in May 2025 (+36%, a change derived by Future History).
Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.
Last updated .
Cite this page
Future History. (2026, October 11). Bartenders: jobs and pay since 1900 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/35-3011
Future History. "Bartenders: jobs and pay since 1900." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/35-3011.
@misc{futurehistory_35_3011, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Bartenders: jobs and pay since 1900}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/35-3011}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }
The access date is today's date on your device.
≈ $33,460 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)
In 1776, Philadelphia had more than 120 taverns, inns, and ordinaries, roughly one licensed drinking establishment for every 250-300 residents, far more tavern-dense than modern Philadelphia. The Green Dragon Tavern in Boston was nicknamed "the headquarters of the Revolution" because the Sons of Liberty met there; the Boston Tea Party was planned there. Tavern keepers were civic institutions: they handled post office functions, extended community credit, and served as informal meeting-house operators. In America, unlike in England, tavern keepers were as respected as clergy and could become quite wealthy.
Per-capita consumption of distilled spirits in the United States reached 5.2 gallons per year by 1830, the highest level in American history. Per capita alcohol consumption in 2024 is approximately 2.4 gallons. The early republic was a nation that drank far more than it does today, and the person dispensing that liquor was one of the most essential workers in the frontier economy. A man could barkeep for a few years until he saved enough to buy land or get elected to office. Being a barkeeper was not held against a person in the West, where reinvention was the norm.
Jerry Thomas publishes "How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion" in New York, the first bar guide ever published in the United States. Thomas, then 31, had been the head bartender at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York and had previously worked at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, where he earned $100 per week, more than the Vice President of the United States. His book codified hundreds of recipes for cocktails, punches, fizzes, sours, and flips, and his signature invention, the Blue Blazer (flaming whiskey poured between two silver mugs in an arc), established the bartender as a performer. Thomas would publish a revised edition in 1876 and a posthumous edition in 1887. For a century and a half the book has remained in print, consulted by every wave of the craft cocktail revival.
The Waiters and Bartenders National Union receives its AFL charter in 1891, later renamed the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE). The union organized bartenders alongside waiters, cooks, and hotel workers, and became one of the first AFL affiliates to organize female workers in significant numbers. By the early 1900s, HERE had negotiated wage minimums and shift conditions for bartenders in major US cities, establishing the occupation's first formal labor standards. Prohibition would devastate the union's bartender membership in 1920, but HERE survived to organize the recovery.
January 17, 1920: Prohibition takes effect. Overnight, every legal bartender in the United States is out of work. Trained craft bartenders scatter: some emigrate to Paris (Harry's New York Bar in Paris, opened 1911, becomes a haven), London, Havana, and the Bahamas. In New York City alone an estimated 32,000 speakeasies operate by the late 1920s, employing bartenders illegally and with improvised technique. Bathtub gin and low-quality bootleg whiskey require mixers and sweeteners to be drinkable; the era produces the sweet, heavily modified cocktails that would dominate American bar culture through the 1950s. Women serve behind the bar in speakeasies in large numbers: accounts suggest half of speakeasy bartenders were women at the height of Prohibition, compared to a small minority before.
The 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act amendment establishes the tipped minimum wage, allowing employers of tipped workers to pay a subminimum cash wage and credit employees' tips toward the regular minimum. For bartenders, the amendment formalizes a compensation structure that already existed informally but now has statutory force. In 1991, Congress sets the federal tipped minimum at $2.13/hour; it has not moved since. The frozen tipped wage means that the stated BLS median annual wage for bartenders substantially understates actual total compensation in tipped environments, where skilled bartenders in premium venues earn $50,000-$80,000+ effectively when tips are included.
Dale DeGroff takes over the bar program at the reopened Rainbow Room in New York City in 1987 and introduces classic cocktails made with fresh juice and quality spirits. The craft cocktail revival that DeGroff pioneered accelerated through the 1990s and 2000s: Sasha Petraske's Milk and Honey (2000) introduced a reservation-only cocktail bar with pre-Prohibition recipes and strict house rules; Audrey Saunders's Pegu Club (2005) and Death and Company (2006) followed. The revival reconnected working bartenders to the tradition codified by Jerry Thomas in 1862, and by the 2010s had generated thousands of craft cocktail bars across the United States, a new professional identity ("mixologist"), and a generation of bartenders who treated the job as a skilled craft rather than a stopgap.
March-April 2020: COVID-19 forces the closure of bars and restaurants across the United States. The National Restaurant Association reports that over 110,000 eating and drinking establishments closed in 2020 and 2.5 million jobs were lost from pre-COVID levels in the food service sector. Bartender employment collapsed to roughly half of the pre-pandemic level. The recovery was slower than other food-service categories because many bar-focused venues did not reopen; by 2024 OEWS employment had recovered to 745,610, above the 2019 pre-pandemic level. The COVID shock was the most severe single disruption to bartender employment since Prohibition, more damaging in absolute numbers and faster in its onset.
Will AI replace bartenders? What the research says
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.
What's changing day to day for bartenders
Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.
AI is sitting alongside you hereCount and record bar stock using inventory management software
Count and record bar stock using inventory management software; identify variance between theoretical and actual pours; generate purchase orders based on par levels; reconcile deliveries against invoices.[7],[1]
Become proficient in WISK or a comparable bar inventory platform. The counting task is mostly automated; the human value is interpreting variance reports, negotiating with suppliers, and using cost data to inform menu pricing and specials.
AI is sitting alongside you hereCollect payment via POS terminal
Collect payment via POS terminal; apply AI-driven upsell prompts (e.g. top-shelf spirit upgrades) at order entry; process tabs, split bills, manage comps, and balance end-of-shift cash drawers.[8],[1]
Use ToastIQ upsell prompts as a selling tool rather than a script: a natural verbal delivery of an AI-suggested premium upgrade outperforms mechanical recitation. Track your personal upsell conversion rate to quantify your contribution to check averages.
AI is sitting alongside you hereOrder spirits, wine, beer, and mixers from distributors
Order spirits, wine, beer, and mixers from distributors; negotiate pricing and promotional allocations; receive deliveries and verify against invoices; use inventory data to identify slow-moving stock and adjust purchasing accordingly.[7],[1]
Build direct relationships with distributor sales reps: access to allocated bottles, promotional pricing, and new product previews comes through personal trust, not automated ordering. Use WISK data to walk into purchasing conversations with precise cost-per-ounce arguments.
Where bartenders go next
Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.
- Food Service Managers
- US median pay
- $69,390 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +5.8%
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
- US median pay
- $44,080 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +5.4%
What each move takes
Food Service Managers
Bartenders who move into bar management and then food service management reach a better-paid role with strong demand across restaurants, hotels, and catering operations. The transition requires expanding from beverage-only expertise to full food and beverage P&L ownership, staff management across departments, and regulatory compliance (liquor licenses, Health Department, ADA). Many beverage directors and general managers started behind the bar and credit that foundation with their cost-control instincts and guest-experience orientation.
- · Food cost and labor cost analysis: learn to build and read a weekly P&L for a venue
- · ServSafe Food Manager certification and liquor license compliance in your state
- · Hiring, onboarding, and performance management fundamentals
- · Beverage program costing: pour cost targets, menu engineering, supplier negotiation at scale
How has the work of bartenders changed since 1620?
The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.
Barrel tap and earthenware / pewter vessels (colonial ordinary era)
The colonial tavern keeper operated with simple barrel taps, earthenware jugs, pewter tankards, and basic copper stills for producing local rum and whiskey. No specialized bar equipment existed: drinks were served from whatever vessel came to hand. Mixing was rudimentary, punches being the most elaborate preparation, combining spirits with citrus, sugar, and spices in a communal bowl. The keeper's skill was in sourcing reliable spirits, managing credit, and maintaining a civil atmosphere. No printed recipes guided the work.
Crystal glassware + commercial ice harvesting (the first cocktail era)
The commercial ice trade transformed bartending in the 1830s. Frederic Tudor of Boston began shipping ice cut from New England ponds to Southern cities and the Caribbean as early as 1806, but by the 1830s ice was regularly available in urban bars. Ice changed what cocktails were possible: the Mint Julep, the Sherry Cobbler, and eventually the Old Fashioned all required a bartender who could handle ice, crushed or blocked. The accompanying shift to crystal glassware (replacing pewter and earthenware) turned the bar into a visual experience. A bartender who could present a well-iced, properly garnished drink in a clear glass was demonstrating mastery, not just pouring.
Jerry Thomas's "How to Mix Drinks" (1862) + professional bar tools (Boston shaker, jigger, strainer)
Jerry Thomas's 1862 publication codified the bartender's craft for the first time. The book introduced written recipes for cocktails, punches, fizzes, sours, and flips, replacing oral tradition with a repeatable standard. The same era produced the professional tool kit that defined modern bartending: the Boston shaker (two-piece metal and glass), the Hawthorne strainer, the jigger (measuring tool), and the muddler. These tools allowed a bartender to produce consistently calibrated drinks across different bars and cities. Thomas himself earned more per week than the US Vice President, demonstrating that a skilled bartender in a premium venue commanded professional-level compensation. By the late 1800s the profession had a recognizable material culture, a set of reference texts, and an occupational identity.
Effect on the workThe codification of cocktail recipes and professional tools created the conditions for professional identity and wages. A bartender who could execute Thomas's recipes commanded higher pay and stood apart from the general saloon worker who merely poured from barrels.
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union (AFL charter, 1891)
The Waiters and Bartenders National Union received its AFL charter in 1891, becoming the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE). The union organized bartenders as a distinct craft alongside waiters and cooks. By the early 1900s, unionized bartenders in major cities had secured wage minimums, defined shift lengths, and some protections against the arbitrary firings common in saloon employment. The union was among the first AFL affiliates to organize women workers in significant numbers. Prohibition demolished the union's bartender membership in 1920 when the occupation became illegal, but the organizational structure survived and resumed organizing after Repeal.
Effect on the workUnion organization in the 1890s-1910s raised bartender wages in organized establishments and improved working conditions. The union structure was the primary vehicle for labor standards in an industry where workers lacked other forms of leverage.
Post-Prohibition cocktail lounge + mid-century bar equipment (electric blender 1922, speed rail)
Repeal in 1933 reopened legal bars but the craft gap was real: thirteen years of Prohibition had broken the apprenticeship chain. The cocktail lounge of the 1940s-1960s depended on simple, standardized drinks (the Martini, Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Highball) that required less specialized technique than the pre-Prohibition craft repertoire. The electric blender (Waring Blendor introduced commercially in 1936) added the Daiquiri and the Margarita to bar menus. The speed rail, a refrigerated shelf holding frequently used bottles within arm's reach of the bartender, became standard equipment by the 1950s, increasing throughput in high-volume hotel and supper-club bars. This era was as much about quantity as quality: the post-war entertainment economy demanded fast service for large parties.
Fair Labor Standards Act tipped minimum wage (FLSA 1966 amendment)
The 1966 FLSA amendment formally established the tipped minimum wage: employers of tipped workers could pay a subminimum cash wage and count employees' tips toward the regular minimum. For bartenders and servers, this meant the federal cash wage floor was set well below the general minimum wage. The amendment formalized an arrangement that had existed informally in bar and restaurant employment since the 19th century, but it now had statutory force. In 1991 the federal tipped minimum wage was set at $2.13/hour, where it has remained ever since. The structure means a bartender's effective earnings are primarily determined by tip volume rather than employer-set wages, concentrating income risk on the worker and creating large variance between venues, shifts, and seasons.
Effect on the workThe tipped minimum wage structure has depressed the stated median annual wage for BLS SOC 35-3011 throughout the OEWS series, while actual total compensation (including tips) is substantially higher in premium venues. The wage data understates bartender earnings in the upper half of the distribution.
Craft cocktail revival (Dale DeGroff at Rainbow Room 1987; Milk and Honey 2000)
In 1987 Dale DeGroff took over the bar program at the newly reopened Rainbow Room in New York City and introduced a menu of classic cocktails made with fresh juice, quality spirits, and proper technique, at a moment when most American bars were serving pre-mixed sours and bottled sweet-and-sour. The craft cocktail revival that DeGroff sparked, and that Sasha Petraske's Milk and Honey (2000), Audrey Saunders's Pegu Club (2005), and Death and Company (2006) carried forward, reconnected living bartenders to the pre-Prohibition tradition codified in Jerry Thomas's 1862 guide. The revival created a new professional tier: the "mixologist" who researched cocktail history, developed original recipes, sourced rare spirits, and charged accordingly. Bartenders in craft bars began earning premium wages, building social media followings, and commanding the kind of professional recognition previously reserved for chefs.
Effect on the workThe craft revival bifurcated the bartender labor market: a premium tier of craft-cocktail specialists effective hourly rates (including tips) at top venues, versus a commodity tier of high-volume bar and chain-restaurant bartenders closer to the BLS median.
Restaurant POS systems + inventory management software (Aloha POS 1993 to WISK AI)
Electronic point-of-sale systems had been standard in large restaurant chains since the late 1980s; by 2000 they were universal at any establishment with more than a handful of seats. For the bartender, the POS system structured every transaction: drinks entered by item code, tabs opened and closed digitally, upsell prompts added by management. The second layer was inventory management: manual spreadsheet-based counting gave way to barcode-scanner platforms (WISK, Bevchek, Bar-i) that track pours against theoretical cost and flag variance. WISK customers report reducing inventory time per session. The bartender who masters these tools controls cost data that directly informs menu pricing, purchasing, and margin analysis. The transition from manual to software-mediated inventory has shifted part of the job's analytical content toward bartenders who can read reports and use the data.
Robotic bartenders (Makr Shakr 2014; Richtech ADAM 2023; AI Barmen CES 2026)
Makr Shakr, developed in partnership with MIT and Coca-Cola, debuted in 2014 as a dual-arm robotic bar capable of mixing cocktails from more than a hundred bottles in seconds; it was deployed on Royal Caribbean cruise ships and later at airports and hotels. AI Barmen debuted at CES 2026 with facial-recognition age-verification for kiosk contexts. The pattern is consistent: robotic bartenders are commercially viable in high-volume, commodity-pour environments (arenas, cruise ships, airports) where the transaction is straightforward and capital cost is justifiable at scale. At $100,000-$200,000 per unit, they are not competitive for the full-service craft bar or the neighborhood restaurant. The labor effect is concentrated in high-volume commodity venues, not the full-service sector that employs most of the 745,610 bartender jobs counted by BLS OEWS in 2024.
Effect on the workAt peak the US robotic bartender fleet across all vendors is estimated at several hundred units, affecting a small fraction of total bartender employment. BLS projects +6% growth 2024-2034 despite robotic deployment, suggesting current automation levels are not offsetting demand growth in full-service settings.
See the same long-arc view for your own profession.
Browse the directory by industry, or search by title or SOC code.
Browse all rolesBartenders employment and pay by year
In other countries
The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.
Canada (NOC 64301)
- Employment, 2020
- 28,865, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 64301 Bartenders, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
- Median pay, 2020
- C$19,400, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 64301 Bartenders, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.
United Kingdom (UK SOC 9265)
- Employment, 2025
- 84,000, ONS ASHE 2025 Official statistic Report an errorONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 9265 Bar staff, United Kingdom, 2025 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Median pay, 2025
- £9,166, ONS ASHE 2025 Official statistic Report an errorONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 9265 Bar staff, United Kingdom, 2025. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Australia (ANZSCO 4311)
- Employment, 2025
- 116,200, ABS Labour Force Survey Official statistic Report an errorABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 4311 Bar Attendants and Baristas, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
- Median pay, 2025
- A$78,000, ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 Official statistic Report an errorAnnualised (x52) from A$1,500 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.
View all 27 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 50,000 | $425 | Est., Neat History (employment) Researched contextEst., University of Missouri Libraries (pay) Researched context | Report |
| 1950 | 250,000 | n/a | Est., IPUMS USA Researched context | Report |
| 1999 | n/a | $18,844 | Census 2000 Researched context | Report |
| 2000 | 450,000 | n/a | Est., BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook Researched context | Report |
| 2003 | 470,020 | $15,040 | BLS OEWS May 2003 Official statistic | Report |
| 2004 | 463,000 | $15,440 | BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statistic | Report |
| 2005 | 480,010 | $15,850 | BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statistic | Report |
| 2006 | 485,120 | $16,350 | BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statistic | Report |
| 2007 | 498,090 | $17,090 | BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statistic | Report |
| 2008 | 503,420 | $17,770 | BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statistic | Report |
| 2009 | 492,480 | $18,350 | BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statistic | Report |
| 2010 | 495,350 | $18,680 | BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statistic | Report |
| 2011 | 512,230 | $18,850 | BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statistic | Report |
| 2012 | 538,220 | $18,900 | BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statistic | Report |
| 2013 | 555,560 | $18,920 | BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statistic | Report |
| 2014 | 579,700 | $19,050 | BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statistic | Report |
| 2015 | 589,150 | $19,530 | BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statistic | Report |
| 2016 | 603,320 | $20,800 | BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statistic | Report |
| 2017 | 613,350 | $21,690 | BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statistic | Report |
| 2018 | 631,480 | $22,550 | BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statistic | Report |
| 2019 | 646,850 | $23,680 | BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statistic | Report |
| 2020 | 486,720 | $24,960 | BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statistic | Report |
| 2021 | 485,330 | $26,350 | BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statistic | Report |
| 2022 | 613,070 | $29,380 | BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statistic | Report |
| 2023 | 711,140 | $31,510 | BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statistic | Report |
| 2024 | 745,610 | $33,530 | BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statistic | Report |
| 2025 | 756,390 | $34,340 | BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statistic | Report |
More in Food Service
- Fast Food and Counter Workers
- Waiters and Waitresses
- Cooks, Restaurant
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
- Food Preparation Workers
- Cooks, Fast Food
- Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
- Dishwashers
- Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
- Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop