Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop

Low pay & highrisk
High Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
20% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better Higher growth
55.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Advancement path using seating flow, service standards, staff coordination, guest issues, and shift timing.

Concierges
40% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
34.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Strong hospitality move using guest requests, reservations, local information, problem solving, and service recovery.

Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
62% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
12.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Reuses food-service timing, guest communication, dining-area setup, cleanliness, and order coordination.

Waiters and Waitresses
63% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better More jobs
12.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Direct front-of-house move using guest greeting, table flow, menu knowledge, service timing, and customer care.

Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
65% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
10 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Applies greeting, reservations, payments, guest records, complaints, directions, and hospitality standards.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
2.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

75% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): This occupation shows a significant risk of end-to-end replacement by automation. Many core parts of the role may be structured, repeatable, software-driven, or physically predictable enough for AI, machines, or robotic systems to take over. If you work in this area, it may be worth exploring safer related careers or moving towards more human-centred responsibilities.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 47 votes

66% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 75% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop was $30,380 ($15 per hour).

The median annual wage for Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop was 38.6% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop' job openings is expected to decline 1.5% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 427,150 people employed as 'Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop' within the United States.

This represents around 0.28% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 360 people are employed as 'Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop'.

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Job description

Welcome patrons, seat them at tables or in lounge, and help ensure quality of facilities and service.

O*NET-SOC code: 35-9031.00