Here's How Much Jack In The Box Employees Really Make

You might not mentally place them alongside Burger King or McDonald's, but Jack in the Box helped shape the fast food world. The chain, which opened its doors back in 1951, helped develop and popularize drive-through service and helped shape the way we eat at fast food establishments with an intercom service (via Mental Itch). Nowadays, things seem grimmer for the chain that boasts a seven-decade history. According to Statista, Jack in the Box Inc., which owns both Jack and the Box and Qdoba, made $1.02 billion during 2020. Compare this to 2009's revenue, which totaled $2.15 billion, and the situation appears bleaker. 

While Jack in the Box doesn't pull in quite the same amount of money, all of its employees make above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 (via U.S. Department of Labor). According to Payscale, cashiers at the chain make an average of $10 an hour, while store team leaders bring in a mean total of $11 an hour. Cooks and crew leaders can also generally expect to be paid $10 an hour. On the whole, the average Jack in the Box employee should expect to bring in $10.84 for an hour of work.

Assistant managers lie on the higher end of the pay range at Jack in the Box, bringing in up to $16 an hour, according to Payscale. Even with this higher pay rate, the pay for a Jack in the Box employee still falls short of the average living wage for a family of four in the U.S., which came to $16.54 an hour in 2019 (via Living Wage). However, it should be noted that employees at Jack in the Box also generally receive a $4,000 annual bonus, helping boost their yearly wage, per Payscale.

According to the job rating site Glassdoor, only 47 percent of Jack in the Box employees would recommend their fast food position to a friend. While Jack in the Box has a similar model to other fast food chains, one Redditor claiming to be a Jack in the Box employee posted that, "It's different than other fast food places like McDonald's because we'll only have two to four people working at a time." Only time can tell what happens next for those who work at this chain, but knowing how much these integral employees earn for their service can put their work in a greater perspective next time we want a burger.