The annual salary statistics of food preparation workers in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California is shown in Table 1. The wage data of food preparation workers in Santa Cruz-Watsonville is based on the national compensation survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2022 and published in April 2023 [1].
| Percentile Bracket | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th Percentile Wage | $30,450 |
| 25th Percentile Wage | $31,520 |
| 50th Percentile Wage | $34,410 |
| 75th Percentile Wage | $37,320 |
| 90th Percentile Wage | $42,970 |
Table 1 shows the average annual salary for food preparation workers in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California in 5 percentile scales. The average annual salary for the 90th percentile (the top 10 percent of the highest paid) is $42,970. The median (50th percentile) annual salary is $34,410. The average annual salary for the bottom 10 percent earners is $30,450.
The table and chart below show the trend of the median salary of food preparation workers from 2012 to 2022.
| Year | Median Salary | Yearly Growth | 10-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $34,410 | 2.56% | 34.50% |
| 2021 | $33,530 | -3.37% | - |
| 2020 | $34,660 | 16.96% | - |
| 2019 | $28,780 | 15.36% | - |
| 2018 | $24,360 | 5.50% | - |
| 2017 | $23,020 | 2.13% | - |
| 2016 | $22,530 | 0.53% | - |
| 2015 | $22,410 | 2.54% | - |
| 2014 | $21,840 | 2.93% | - |
| 2013 | $21,200 | -6.32% | - |
| 2012 | $22,540 | - | - |
From Table 3 we note that the median annual salary of $34,410 in Santa Cruz-Watsonville is in the middle of salary range for food preparation workers in state of California. In comparison, the annual salary of food preparation workers in Santa Cruz-Watsonville is 9.4 percent (9.4%) lower than that in the highest paying San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont and 43.7 percent (43.7%) higher than that in the lowest paying Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana.