Bakery industry statistics at a glance
Bakery demand is easiest to understand when you look at both the consumer side and the production side.
The consumer side is still anchored by wheat flour use, while the labor and establishment data shows a large, steady industry with tight margins, modest job growth, and a wide spread of wages across bakery-related roles (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook; BLS Industries at a Glance; Census Bureau Profile).
Fast facts
- U.S. per capita wheat flour use was 126.6 pounds in 2025 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance).
- U.S. per capita flour consumption had fallen to 134.4 pounds by 2005 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance).
- The median annual wage for bakers was $36,650 in May 2024 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- Employment of bakers is projected to grow 6% from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- BLS projects about 39,900 openings per year for bakers on average over 2024 to 2034 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- In NAICS 311800 bakeries and tortilla manufacturing, all occupations employed 331,820 workers in 2023 (BLS OEWS May 2023).
Table of contents
- Bakery industry demand and flour use
- Bakery jobs, wages, and openings
- Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing output signals
- Establishments and industry footprint
- Occupation mix inside bakeries
- What the numbers suggest for the bakery industry
Bakery industry demand and flour use
The bakery industry starts with a simple demand signal: flour.
U.S. per capita wheat flour use was 126.6 pounds in 2025 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance). That is a useful benchmark because it ties household food habits to the broader bakery value chain. If flour use is high, the bakery industry has a large and durable ingredient base to serve.
A second comparison point gives the longer view. U.S. per capita flour consumption had fallen to 134.4 pounds by 2005 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance). With both figures in hand, the clearest takeaway is that flour use remains substantial, but the current level is still a data point that should be read as part of a longer consumption trend rather than a one-year spike.
Why flour use matters for bakery analysis
- Flour is one of the most direct input signals for bread, rolls, cakes, pastries, cookies, and other bakery products.
- Per capita figures help compare bakery demand across time without needing a separate volume series for each product.
- In bakery industry research, flour consumption is a useful context variable even when you are mainly focused on labor, wages, or establishments.
Big number: 126.6 pounds per person in 2025 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance) gives the bakery industry a demand backdrop that is large enough to support a broad retail and manufacturing footprint.
Bakery jobs, wages, and openings
The labor market for bakers is one of the clearest ways to see how the industry operates in practice. The occupation is not just about storefront baking; it spans grocery, specialty food retail, food service, and manufacturing settings.
The median annual wage for bakers was $36,650 in May 2024 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). That sits alongside a lower end below $27,560 and an upper end above $48,260 in May 2024 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The spread shows that bakery work can look very different depending on employer type, product mix, and responsibilities.
Wage table for bakers
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $36,650 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Lowest 10 percent | Below $27,560 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Highest 10 percent | Above $48,260 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Special food services median | $39,000 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Grocery and specialty food retailers median | $36,880 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing median | $36,550 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
What the wage spread tells you
- The difference between the median and the top decile is large enough to suggest meaningful role variation inside the occupation.
- Special food services paid the highest median among the listed employer groups at $39,000 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- Grocery and specialty food retailers paid $36,880, while bakeries and tortilla manufacturing paid $36,550 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
- The three employer-specific medians are close enough to show a shared baseline, but not identical enough to ignore employer mix.
Employment outlook
BLS projects employment of bakers to grow 6% from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). That is paired with about 39,900 openings each year, on average, over the same period (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
The projection also includes a jump from 249,100 projected jobs in 2024 to 263,200 in 2034, a numeric change of 14,000 jobs (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). That makes the occupation look steady rather than explosive: a growing field with replacement demand layered on top of modest expansion.
Bakery job takeaways
- The occupation is large enough to matter nationally, not just locally.
- Wage variation is real, which makes employer type worth tracking.
- Openings matter as much as growth because turnover and replacement hiring can dominate annual demand.
- The projected change is measured, which fits a mature consumer staple industry.
Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing output signals
The manufacturing side gives a different view of the bakery industry because it reflects productivity, output, and cost pressure rather than just consumer demand.
In 2024, food manufacturing labor productivity fell 4.6% (BLS Industries at a Glance). At the same time, hours worked rose 2.8%, output fell 1.9%, and unit labor costs rose 7.5% (BLS Industries at a Glance). Taken together, those figures point to a tougher production year: more hours, less output, and higher cost per unit.
A compact trend table for food manufacturing
| Year | Labor productivity | Hours worked | Output | Unit labor costs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | -1.5% | +2.9% | +1.3% | +4.3% | BLS Industries at a Glance |
| 2022 | +0.1% | +1.2% | +1.3% | +8.9% | BLS Industries at a Glance |
| 2023 | -1.8% | 0.0% | -1.8% | +7.1% | BLS Industries at a Glance |
| 2024 | -4.6% | +2.8% | -1.9% | +7.5% | BLS Industries at a Glance |
What the productivity pattern suggests
- Food manufacturing had a difficult stretch across the four years shown.
- Output did not keep pace with hours in 2024, which is usually a warning sign for margin pressure.
- Unit labor costs rose in every year listed, including 8.9% in 2022 and 7.5% in 2024 (BLS Industries at a Glance).
- The direction of the data is more important than any single year: costs stayed elevated while productivity struggled.
Bakery-specific producer price and trade indexes
The bakeries and tortilla manufacturing producer price index moved from 267.402 in January 2026 to 271.741 in April 2026 (BLS Industries at a Glance). That is a steady upward run over four monthly readings.
The import index also moved up over the same general window, from 204.5 in January 2026 to 206.3 in April 2026 (BLS Industries at a Glance). The export index rose from 208.7 to 214.7 over those four months (BLS Industries at a Glance).
Index snapshot
| Index | January 2026 | February 2026 | March 2026 | April 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer price index | 267.402 | 268.022 | 269.892 | 271.741 | BLS Industries at a Glance |
| Import index | 204.5 | 204.0 | 204.3 | 206.3 | BLS Industries at a Glance |
| Export index | 208.7 | 210.8 | 211.7 | 214.7 | BLS Industries at a Glance |
The producer price index rising across the four months is a useful reminder that bakery and tortilla manufacturing is operating in a cost environment that can change quickly. Import and export indexes moving upward at the same time also suggest that the sector is tracking broader trade-price momentum, not just domestic pricing.
Establishments and industry footprint
The bakery industry is not a single category in practice. It sits inside food manufacturing, retail food, and specialized production niches.
The Census Bureau profile data shows how broad that footprint is. Retail bakeries had 9,219 employer establishments in 2023, while commercial bakeries had 2,842 (Census Bureau Profile). Frozen cakes, pies, and other pastries manufacturing had 237 employer establishments, and cookie and cracker manufacturing had 461 (Census Bureau Profile).
Establishment comparison
| Segment | Employer establishments in 2023 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Retail bakeries | 9,219 | Census Bureau Profile: Retail bakeries |
| Commercial bakeries | 2,842 | Census Bureau Profile: Commercial bakeries |
| Frozen cakes, pies, and other pastries manufacturing | 237 | Census Bureau Profile |
| Cookie and cracker manufacturing | 461 | Census Bureau Profile |
| Food manufacturing | 31,130 | Census Bureau Profile: Food Manufacturing |
| Food and beverage retailers | 160,298 | Census Bureau Profile: Food and Beverage Retailers |
How to read the footprint data
- Retail bakeries have the largest direct bakery presence in this set, which fits consumer-facing daily demand.
- Commercial bakeries are fewer in number but likely matter disproportionately in volume terms.
- Frozen pastries and cookie/cracker manufacturing are smaller slices, but they show how bakery output extends into packaged and shelf-stable formats.
- The food and beverage retail base is much larger than any single bakery segment, which helps explain why bakery products compete for shelf and customer attention inside a much wider channel.
Fast fact: 9,219 retail bakery employer establishments (Census Bureau Profile: Retail bakeries) shows how distributed the bakery industry is at the local level.
Occupation mix inside bakeries
The bakery and tortilla manufacturing sector is not staffed only by bakers. The occupational mix gives a more realistic picture of what it takes to run the industry.
In NAICS 311800 bakeries and tortilla manufacturing, all occupations employed 331,820 workers in 2023 (BLS OEWS May 2023). Management occupations accounted for 12,450 workers (BLS OEWS May 2023), while food preparation and serving related occupations employed 28,290 workers (BLS OEWS May 2023).
Selected occupation counts
| Occupation | Workers in 2023 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| All occupations | 331,820 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Management occupations | 12,450 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| General and operations managers | 5,590 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Industrial production managers | 2,390 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Food scientists and technologists | 600 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Food science technicians | 680 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Occupational health and safety specialists | 290 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Food preparation and serving related occupations | 28,290 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
| Fast food and counter workers | 14,720 | BLS OEWS May 2023 |
Why this mix matters
The workforce table shows that bakery and tortilla manufacturing depends on a blend of production, management, quality, safety, and customer-facing labor.
A few useful patterns stand out:
- General and operations managers numbered 5,590, which signals a sizable operational layer inside the sector (BLS OEWS May 2023).
- Industrial production managers accounted for 2,390 workers, reinforcing that production coordination is a major function (BLS OEWS May 2023).
- Food scientists and technologists, plus food science technicians, together add a technical product-development and quality-control layer (BLS OEWS May 2023).
- Occupational health and safety specialists were present too, which matters in environments with production equipment, sanitation rules, and process discipline (BLS OEWS May 2023).
A practical read on bakery labor
- The sector is bigger than the baker occupation alone.
- Production oversight and quality functions are meaningful staffing categories.
- Retail-adjacent and food-service labor still appears inside the broader manufacturing count.
- Occupation mix is a useful proxy for operational complexity.
What the numbers suggest for the bakery industry
The supplied statistics point to a bakery industry that is broad, durable, and operationally complex.
The demand base is steady: U.S. flour use remains high at 126.6 pounds per person in 2025 (USDA ERS Wheat Sector at a Glance). The labor market is stable and growing modestly: bakers are projected to grow 6% with about 39,900 annual openings and 263,200 projected jobs by 2034 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
The production side is more mixed. Food manufacturing productivity slipped in 2024 while hours worked rose and output fell, with unit labor costs climbing 7.5% (BLS Industries at a Glance). That kind of pattern matters because bakeries often operate in a low-margin environment where labor, ingredient costs, and throughput all matter at once.
The footprint data reinforces the point. Retail bakeries, commercial bakeries, and related manufacturing categories together show a sector with both local consumer touchpoints and industrial-scale production capacity (Census Bureau Profile).
Finally, the occupation data shows that bakery and tortilla manufacturing is not a narrow trade. It is an ecosystem of production, management, technical, safety, and service roles, supported by 331,820 workers across all occupations in 2023 (BLS OEWS May 2023).
If you are evaluating the bakery industry for hiring, site selection, product planning, or market research, the best way to read the data is as a layered system: ingredient demand, labor demand, establishment density, and production efficiency all move together, but not always at the same speed.