national average pay chef
Regional Pay. Culinary chefs employed in the northeast United States earned the highest salaries, led by New York at an average of nearly $68,000 per year and New Jersey at about $60,500 per year. Chefs in Hawaii, Nevada, California and Florida also earned salaries above the national average.verage Pay. Chefs reported an average yearly income of $46,600 per year and mean wages of $22.40 per hour, according to the May 2011 report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.