# Fast Food and Counter Workers

US SOC code 35-3023. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/35-3023

Also called: Fast food worker, Counter worker, Crew member, QSR crew, Quick service restaurant worker.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **3,854,050** US fast food and counter workers, with median pay of **$31,200** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.kmuw.org/2023-03-22/white-castle-didnt-just-invent-sliders-the-kansas-chain-created-a-playbook-for-american-fast-food) of **50** from 1921, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for fast food and counter workers: AI-powered drive-thru voice ordering, 2019 to 2025. Wendy's FreshAI frees drive-thru crew from primary order-taking; employees are "refocused on speed-of-service and order accuracy" per the company's own communications.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 5.8% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=35-3023&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **7.3%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

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.

## Fast Food and Counter Workers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1921
- Latest US employment: 3,854,050 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $31,200 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [8]
- Outlook: +5.8% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [21]

### All 12 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1921 | 50 (estimate) | n/a | Est., KMUW / NPR [1] |
| 1950 | 150,000 (estimate) | $1,200 (estimate) | Est., IPUMS USA (employment) [2]; Est., U.S. Department of Labor (pay) [6] |
| 1970 | 1,100,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Library of Congress [3] |
| 1975 | n/a | $3,500 (estimate) | Est., McDonald's Corporate [7] |
| 1984 | 2,300,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., ERIC ED268368 [4] |
| 2019 | 3,996,820 | $22,740 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 3,450,120 | $23,860 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 3,095,120 | $25,100 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 3,325,050 | $27,930 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 3,676,580 | $29,540 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 3,780,930 | $30,480 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 3,854,050 | $31,200 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (51)

### Employment series

1. [KMUW / NPR -- "White Castle didn't just invent sliders. The Kansas chain created a playbook for American fast food" (2023)](https://www.kmuw.org/2023-03-22/white-castle-didnt-just-invent-sliders-the-kansas-chain-created-a-playbook-for-american-fast-food), KMUW / NPR
2. [IPUMS USA -- Occupation and Industry Codes: 1950 Census eating and drinking places industry classification](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/volii/occ_ind.shtml), IPUMS / University of Minnesota
3. [Library of Congress This Month in Business History -- "McDonald's Founded in 1940" (franchise growth through 1960s-70s)](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/may/mcdonalds-founded), Library of Congress
4. [ERIC ED268368 -- "Fast Food Jobs: National Study of Fast Food Employment" (1984 national survey of 279 fast food restaurants)](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED268368), ERIC / U.S. Department of Education
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

6. [U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division -- History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates (1938-2009)](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history), U.S. Department of Labor
7. [McDonald's Corporate -- "The First McDonald's Drive Thru" (January 24, 1975, Sierra Vista, Arizona -- Fort Huachuca military base origin)](https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/first-mcd-drivethru.html), McDonald's Corporation
8. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
9. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

10. [KMUW / NPR -- "White Castle didn't just invent sliders. The Kansas chain created a playbook for American fast food" (2023)](https://www.kmuw.org/2023-03-22/white-castle-didnt-just-invent-sliders-the-kansas-chain-created-a-playbook-for-american-fast-food), KMUW / NPR
11. [Speedee Service System -- HistoricProjects.com (Richard and Maurice McDonald 1948 system description)](https://www.historicprojects.com/Speedee_Service.html), HistoricProjects.com
12. [Library of Congress This Month in Business History -- "McDonald's Founded in 1940" (Kroc franchise April 15, 1955; 100+ franchises by 1960)](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/may/mcdonalds-founded), Library of Congress
13. [McDonald's Corporate -- "The First McDonald's Drive Thru" (January 24, 1975, Sierra Vista, AZ -- Fort Huachuca military base inspiration)](https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/first-mcd-drivethru.html), McDonald's Corporation
14. [Toast Drive-Thru (April 2026 launch) -- KDS enhancements and unified POS/KDS for QSR (cites the evolution from earlier POS generation)](https://pos.toasttab.com/news/toast-drive-thru-launch-2026), Toast
15. [BestKiosk.com -- "How McDonald's Self-Service Kiosks Are Enhancing Fast Food Service" (130,000+ kiosks globally; 30% higher average check)](https://www.bestkiosk.com/how-mcdonalds-self-service-kiosks-are-enhancing-fast-food-service/), BestKiosk.com / McDonald's operational data
16. [The Rail Media (2025) -- "Restaurant Labor Market: Are Fast Food Jobs Cooked?" (Burger King 21%+ cashier-shift decline; Taco Bell 5 to 2 cashiers post-kiosk)](https://www.therail.media/stories/2025/10/10/restaurant-labor-market-are-fast-food-jobs-cooked), The Rail
17. [Restaurant Dive -- "Wendy's to deploy digital menu boards, drive-thru AI in 500 restaurants in 2025" (FreshAI: 99% accuracy, 22-second reduction)](https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/wendys-deploy-digital-menu-boards-drive-thru-ai-500-restaurants-2025/746977/), Restaurant Dive
18. [Presto Voice AI -- product page (Pure AI / Supervised AI modes; Dairy Queen, Carl's Jr., Taco John's deployment)](https://presto.com/voice-ai/), Presto Automation
19. [Axonify -- Restaurant Solutions (adaptive AI training; Co-Creator; 3-5 minute daily micro-bursts)](https://axonify.com/solutions/restaurant/), Axonify
20. [QSR Magazine -- "AI-Powered Training is the Future of Restaurant Operations" (adaptive platforms personalizing onboarding for hourly QSR employees, 2025)](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/ai-powered-training-is-the-future-of-restaurant-operations/), QSR Magazine

### Forecasts and exposure studies

21. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 35-3023 Fast food and counter workers (2025: 3,855.9 thousand; 2035: 4,079.1 thousand; +5.8%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=35-3023&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
22. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 35-3023.00, human-rated β 0.073)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

23. [KMUW / NPR -- "White Castle didn't just invent sliders. The Kansas chain created a playbook for American fast food" (2023)](https://www.kmuw.org/2023-03-22/white-castle-didnt-just-invent-sliders-the-kansas-chain-created-a-playbook-for-american-fast-food), KMUW / NPR
24. [PBS SoCal -- "The Real McDonald's: The San Bernardino Origins of a Fast Food Empire" (Speedee Service System, December 1948)](https://www.pbssocal.org/food-living/the-real-mcdonalds-the-san-bernardino-origins-of-a-fast-food-empire), PBS SoCal
25. [Library of Congress This Month in Business History -- "McDonald's Founded in 1940" (Kroc franchise April 15, 1955; 100+ franchises by 1960)](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/may/mcdonalds-founded), Library of Congress
26. [McDonald's Corporate -- "The First McDonald's Drive Thru" (January 24, 1975, Sierra Vista, Arizona)](https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/first-mcd-drivethru.html), McDonald's Corporation
27. [ERIC ED268368 -- "Fast Food Jobs: National Study of Fast Food Employment" (1984 survey data)](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED268368), ERIC / U.S. Department of Education
28. [National Employment Law Project -- "Ten-Year Legacy of the Fight for $15 and a Union Movement" (2022)](https://www.nelp.org/insights-research/10-year-legacy-fight-for-15-union-movement/), National Employment Law Project
29. [Cato Institute -- "Did California's Fast-Food Minimum Wage Reduce Employment?" (2.7% relative decline; ~18,000 jobs estimate)](https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/did-californias-fast-food-minimum-wage-reduce-employment), Cato Institute

### Predecessors & successors

30. [KMUW / NPR -- "White Castle didn't just invent sliders" (White Castle 1921 as successor to lunchroom counter format)](https://www.kmuw.org/2023-03-22/white-castle-didnt-just-invent-sliders-the-kansas-chain-created-a-playbook-for-american-fast-food), KMUW / NPR
31. [Speedee Service System -- HistoricProjects.com (McDonald brothers eliminated carhops when introducing assembly-line system in 1948)](https://www.historicprojects.com/Speedee_Service.html), HistoricProjects.com

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3, Fast Food and Counter Workers (35-3023.00): tasks, technology skills, work context; 3,796,000 workers, $14.65/hr, 904,300 annual openings 2024-2034](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/35-3023.00), accessed 2026-06-03
- [BLS OOH, Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers: +5% projected growth 2024-2034; 5M jobs; 1.16M annual openings across group](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/food-and-beverage-serving-and-related-workers.htm), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Wendy's FreshAI (Google Cloud), drive-thru voice AI at 500+ US locations by end 2025; 99% order accuracy; 22-second wait reduction](https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/wendys-deploy-digital-menu-boards-drive-thru-ai-500-restaurants-2025/746977/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Presto Voice AI, drive-thru voice ordering at Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Taco John's, Dairy Queen; 4x upsell attempt rate](https://presto.com/voice-ai/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [McDonald's AI kiosks (Dynamic Yield), 130,000+ kiosks globally; customers order 30% more on kiosk vs. human counter; 15,000+ US/AU/Canada locations](https://www.bestkiosk.com/how-mcdonalds-self-service-kiosks-are-enhancing-fast-food-service/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Restaurant Business Online / The Rail (2025), Burger King franchise cashier-shift decline 21%+ Oct 2023-Oct 2024; Taco Bell reduced cashiers 5 to 2 post-kiosk](https://www.therail.media/stories/2025/10/10/restaurant-labor-market-are-fast-food-jobs-cooked), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Eloundou et al. 2024, GPTs are GPTs (Science): food-service workers among lowest LLM-exposure tiers due to physical + real-time service combination](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-06-03
- [National Restaurant Association State of the Restaurant Industry 2025/2026-25%+ operators use AI; 69% report automation improves productivity; 77% report recruitment/retention challenge](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-the-industry/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Wendy's FreshAI, deployed at 160+ locations; expanding to 500+ US drive-thrus by end 2025; employees shift from order-taking to speed-of-service focus](https://www.voices.com/blog/wendys-ai-drive-thru/), accessed 2026-06-03

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.