How To Become A Camp Cook: What It Is and Career Path

What is a camp cook and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a camp cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.69 an hour? That's $32,630 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 419,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCamp CookUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,630

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.6

Growth Rate 16%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.42%

Asian 6.97%

Black or African American 6.44%

Hispanic or Latino 15.90%

Unknown 5.23%

White 64.04%

Gender

female 53.74%

male 46.26%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress Level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a camp cook

Explore camp cook education requirements

Most common camp cook degrees

Bachelor's

46.5 %

High School Diploma

25.4 %

Associate

16.9 %

Start to develop specific camp cook skills

Skills	Percentages
Food Preparation	35.23%
Food Service	32.68%
Food Handling	14.92%
Clean Kitchen	4.68%
Allergies	2.86%

Complete relevant camp cook training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New camp cooks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a camp cook based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real camp cook resumes.

Research camp cook duties and responsibilities

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Work with propane refrigerators, freezer and stoves.
Work remotely in Alaskan bush conducting salmon and otolith surveys, also are the camp cook.
Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.

Prepare your camp cook resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your camp cook resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a camp cook resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Camp Cook Resume templates

Build a professional Camp Cook resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Camp Cook resume.

Apply for camp cook jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a camp cook job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do camp cooks rate their job?