Bartenders
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Overview
Mix and serve drinks to patrons, directly or through waitstaff.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
BarBartenderAttendantBanquetCaptainTenderBarkeepBarkeeperBarmaidBarmanDrinkMixerMixologistTaproom
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Responsibilities and activities

Bartenders typically do the following:

  • Greet customers, give them menus, and inform them about daily specials
  • Take drink orders from customers
  • Pour and serve wine, beer, and other drinks and beverages
  • Mix drinks according to recipes
  • Check the identification of customers to ensure that they are of legal drinking age
  • Clean bars, tables, and work areas
  • Collect payments from customers and return change
  • Manage the operation of the bar, and order and maintain liquor and bar supplies
  • Monitor the level of intoxication of customers

Bartenders fill drink orders either directly from customers at the bar or through waiters and waitresses who place drink orders for dining room customers. Bartenders must know a wide range of drink recipes and be able to mix drinks correctly and quickly. When measuring and pouring beverages, they must avoid spillage or overpouring. They also must work well with waiters and waitresses and other kitchen staff to ensure that customers receive prompt service.

Some establishments, especially busy establishments with many customers, use equipment that automatically measures and pours drinks at the push of a button. Bartenders who use this equipment, however, still must become familiar with the ingredients for special drink requests and be able to work quickly to handle numerous drink orders.

In addition to mixing and serving drinks, bartenders stock and prepare garnishes for drinks and maintain an adequate supply of ice, glasses, and other bar supplies. They also wash glassware and utensils and serve food to customers who eat at the bar. Bartenders are usually responsible for ordering and maintaining an inventory of liquor, mixers, and other bar supplies.

Salary
Median salary: $24,960 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $19,620 and $32,130.
$25K$0$10K$20K$30K$40K$50K
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for bartenders
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$32K$31K$31K$27K$28K$29K$22K$29K$28K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
020K40K60K80K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Bartenders
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of bartenders who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (68%)
  • Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites (33%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Bartenders? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Bartenders must listen carefully to their customers’ orders, explain drink and food items, and make menu recommendations. They also should be able to converse with customers on a variety of subjects and create a friendly and welcoming environment.
Customer-service skills
Bartenders must have good customer-service skills to ensure repeat business.
Decisionmaking skills
Bartenders must be able to make good decisions. For example, they should be able to detect intoxicated and underage customers and deny service to those individuals.
Physical stamina
Bartenders spend hours on their feet walking and standing while preparing drinks and serving customers.
Physical strength
Bartenders should be able to lift and carry heavy cases of liquor, beer, and other bar supplies—cases that often weigh up to 50 pounds.
Injury and Illness
About 56 bartenders become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 69% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All cuts, lacerations, punctures
Soreness and pain
Bruises and contusions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by bartenders
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), bartenders typically hold no formal educational credential.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as bartenders as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for bartenders

No formal education is required for anyone to become a bartender. However, some aspiring bartenders acquire their skills by attending a school for bartending or by attending bartending classes at a vocational or technical school. Programs in these schools often include instruction on state and local laws and regulations concerning the sale of alcohol, cocktail recipes, proper attire and conduct, and stocking a bar. The length of each program varies, but most courses last a few weeks. Some schools help their graduates find jobs.

Education level of Bartenders
Only 20% of bartenders have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by bartenders
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Program
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Bartenders per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most bartenders? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as bartenders. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where bartenders earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for bartenders compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for bartenders.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which bartenders earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Bartenders (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
44% of Bartenders are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 44% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 93% of careers.
44%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of bartenders by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$28K$28K$28K$21K$22K$26K$0$20,000$40,000$60,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedLocal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Bartenders and gender
With 51% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 62% of careers.
Gender of Bartenders
Men (49%)
Women (51%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$26K$32K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
51%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%, and the difference for bartenders tops that, with the median salary for men 23% higher than the median salary for women.
23%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Bartenders
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Bartenders.
Race/origin of bartenders
White (81% )
Black (6% )
Other (4% )
Multiracial (4% )
Asian (3% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$23K$27K$28K$28K$29K$32K$33K$0$20K$40K$60KAmerican IndianBlackWhiteOtherMultiracialHispanicAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.