SOC 35-9021.00

    Dishwashers

    Clean dishes, kitchen, food preparation equipment, or utensils.

    Median pay
    $34,810
    Growth
    -1.0%
    Little or no change
    Openings a year
    68,900
    Typical education
    No formal credential

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $26,200
    Median
    $34,810
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $42,860
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    477,450 people work in this occupation.

    What dishwashers do

    Job Zone 2: Some preparation

    Clean dishes, kitchen, food preparation equipment, or utensils.

    Usually a high school diploma; some on-the-job training or experience.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R) · strongest
    100 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    0 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    0 / 100
    Social (S)
    14 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    7 / 100
    Conventional (C)
    58 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code RCS. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Handling and Moving Objects
    60
    Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People
    58
    Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
    53
    Training and Teaching Others
    52
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    51
    Performing General Physical Activities
    51
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    50
    Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
    47
    Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
    46
    Getting Information
    46
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Operation and Control
    • Coordination
    • Active Listening
    • Time Management
    • Critical Thinking
    • Monitoring
    • Operations Monitoring
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Speaking
    • Quality Control Analysis

    Knowledge

    • English Language
    • Food Production
    • Education and Training
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Public Safety and Security
    • Administration and Management
    • Communications and Media
    • Transportation
    • Foreign Language
    • Production and Processing

    Abilities

    • Manual Dexterity
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
    • Extent Flexibility
    • Near Vision
    • Trunk Strength
    • Information Ordering
    • Multilimb Coordination
    • Oral Comprehension
    • Control Precision
    • Finger Dexterity

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Cooperation
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Perseverance
    • Self-Control
    • Optimism
    • Humility
    • Achievement Orientation
    • Integrity

    Also called

    Breakdown Person · Bus Person · Busser · Dish Machine Operator (DMO) · Dish Person · Dish Room Worker · Dish Runner · Dish Stacker · Dish Technician (Dish Tech) · Dishwasher

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What dishwashers may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Licenses by state

    7 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 6, 2026.

    Your plan

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    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

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    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 6, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.