Average Pay

• For the purposes of its May 2010 national employment survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics categorized waitresses alongside waiters. It calculated that the average annual salary for the profession was $20,790, which breaks down to an average weekly pay of $400. At the time of publication, wage analysis website Economic Research Institute reported that the annual average salary for a waitress or waiter working in the U.S. is $26,101. This equates to a weekly wage of $502. Waitresses' wages are likely augmented by customer tips.
  
  

Pay by Industry

• Of the almost two and a quarter million waiting staff who contributed to the bureau's survey, over two-thirds worked within full-service restaurants. From the bureau's figures, the average weekly wage within this sector of the food service industry was $396. Waitresses also worked in traveler accommodation and limited-service eating places. The average wages in these sectors was $465 and $359, respectively. Within drinking places the average was $373, while waitresses working within the gambling industries earned $408.
  
  

Pay by Location

• The bureau's 2010 survey also detailed the impact that location can have on a waitress' wages. It listed District of Columbia and Vermont as the most lucrative states, across all industry sectors, for a waitress to work in, with average weekly pay of $572 and $547, respectively. In contrast, Montana had an average of $359 and North Dakota just $338. At the level of individual metropolitan districts, the Boston, Cambridge, Quincy area of Massachusetts topped the table with an average of $593, while the Houston, Sugar Land, Baytown district of Texas was at just $365.
  
  

Prospects

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment opportunities for waitresses and waiters will increase by around 10 percent through 2018. This is roughly in line with the growth rate estimated for the country as a whole -- between 7 and 13 percent over the same time. Population growth increasing demand for food service and the relatively rapid turnover of staff in the industry will fuel this growth and should see wage levels remain reasonably competitive.