Demographics and Salary Disparities in Mexico’s Culinary Sector
In a time marked by the boom in gastronomy, where chefs have achieved celebrity status and cooking has become one of the country’s main cultural and tourism attractions, International Chef Day (October 20th) provides a timely opportunity to look beyond the plate.
Beyond the public image of high-end restaurants and media profiles, there exists a vast workforce that supports this industry. What is the demographic profile and situation of those dedicated to cooking in Mexico?
According to the most recent data (corresponding to the first quarter of 2025) from DataMéxico, a platform by Mexico’s Secretaría de Economía on the occupation of “Cooks,” the findings reveal a mature profession, geographically concentrated in the country’s economic hubs and defined by a significant structural challenge: informality.
Geographical Distribution
- Ciudad de México: 36.1 thousand people.
- Nuevo León: 22.9 thousand people.
However, the best average salaries are not in these entities but in tourism-driven or specific industry states:
- Baja California Sur: $16,000 monthly.
- Tamaulipas: $14,800 monthly.
- Quintana Roo: $10,600 monthly.
Gender Composition
The workforce of Mexico’s cooks is predominantly female. Women represent 56.8% of the occupation, while men account for 43.2%.
This female majority, however, faces a clear salary disparity. The national average salary for the occupation is $7,110 pesos monthly. Yet, when broken down, men receive an average salary of $7,640 pesos, while women earn $6,700 pesos; a gap of nearly a thousand pesos for the same job.
The Structural Challenge: Informality at 54.3%
The most concerning data provided by the Secretaría de Economía is related to employment conditions. For the first quarter of 2025, the informality rate for cooks in Mexico reached 54.3%.
This figure means that more than half of today’s celebrated professionals operate in precarious conditions, lacking a formal contract that guarantees access to legal entitlements, health services, retirement contributions, or protection against unjust dismissals.
This informality also has a gendered face: of the total informal workers in cooking, 65.3% are women.
Moreover, informality is a geographical phenomenon. While Quintana Roo (driven by the formal hotel industry) reports the lowest informality rate at 10.8%, Tlaxcala stands out with an alarming 87.9%.
Thus, the data on International Chef Day illustrates that Mexico’s culinary backbone isn’t just creative impulse, but a workforce of 364,000 people—predominantly female and with an average age of nearly 40—facing significant challenges to practice their profession.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is the gender distribution among cooks in Mexico? Women make up 56.8% of the culinary workforce in Mexico.
- What are the average salaries for male and female cooks? The average salary nationally is $7,110 pesos monthly. Men earn an average of $7,640 pesos, while women earn $6,700 pesos, indicating a gender pay gap.
- What is the informality rate for cooks in Mexico? The informality rate for cooks in Mexico is 54.3%, meaning over half of the culinary professionals lack formal contracts.
- How does geography affect the informality rate? Informality varies significantly by state, with Quintana Roo at 10.8% and Tlaxcala at 87.9%, influenced by factors like tourism and specific industries.
