Bakers
Mix and bake ingredients to produce breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, or other baked goods.
- Median pay
- $37,160
- Doing it now
- 262,400
- By 2035
- Up 5.5%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
a year
across the country
36,500 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Observe color of products being baked, and adjust oven temperatures, humidity, or conveyor speeds accordingly.
- Set oven temperatures, and place items into hot ovens for baking.
- Combine measured ingredients in bowls of mixing, blending, or cooking machinery.
- Measure or weigh flour or other ingredients to prepare batters, doughs, fillings, or icings, using scales or graduated containers.
- Roll, knead, cut, or shape dough to form sweet rolls, pie crusts, tarts, cookies, or other products.
- Place dough in pans, molds, or on sheets, and bake in production ovens or on grills.
- Check the quality of raw materials to ensure that standards and specifications are met.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Culinary Arts and Related ServicesSee 40 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Creative and expressive
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $37,160 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.