Artisan bakeries operate within a broad U.S. baking economy that spans neighborhood retail shops, commercial manufacturers, grocery bakeries, and specialty food services. The figures below show the industry’s employment scale, bakery business counts, wage levels, consumer behavior, and the price pressures that have shaped bakery products.
Contents
- The U.S. baking industry at a glance
- Employment, wages, and career demand
- Bakery establishments and business structure
- What consumers buy and how often
- Product preferences and opportunities
- Ingredient, bakery, and food price movements
- Industry events, safety, and the wider food economy
The U.S. baking industry at a glance
The American Bakers Association’s Economic Impact figures put the commercial baking industry at almost 800,000 skilled individuals employed in the United States. The same ABA Economic Impact source reports more than $42 billion in direct wages and an overall economic impact of more than $186 billion. Bakers are represented in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
These figures describe the commercial baking industry broadly rather than artisan bakeries alone. They provide useful context for independent bakeries: artisan production is part of a much larger system that includes bread, rolls, pastries, cookies, tortillas, pizza and flatbread, snack cakes, and other baked products.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated 249,100 bakers employed in 2024. Its projection places baker employment at 263,200 in 2034, a numeric increase of 14,000 jobs. That is a projected 6% employment growth from 2024 to 2034. BLS also projects about 39,900 openings for bakers each year, on average, over that decade.
| Indicator | Figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial baking employment | Almost 800,000 | ABA Economic Impact |
| Commercial baking direct wages | More than $42 billion | ABA Economic Impact |
| Commercial baking economic impact | More than $186 billion | ABA Economic Impact |
| Bakers employed | 249,100 | BLS Bakers OOH, 2024 estimate |
| Bakers projected to be employed | 263,200 | BLS Bakers OOH, 2034 projection |
| Projected employment growth | 6% | BLS Bakers OOH, 2024–2034 |
Employment, wages, and career demand
BLS reported a median annual wage of $36,650 for bakers in May 2024. For comparison, the median annual wage for all occupations was $49,500, while the median for food processing workers was $38,200. The baker median was therefore below both comparison figures for that measurement period; these are wage comparisons, not measures of job quality or business profitability.
Pay varied across the baker wage distribution. The lowest 10% earned less than $27,560 in May 2024, while the highest 10% earned more than $48,260. For an artisan bakery, these figures can help frame the labor market around entry-level, experienced, and higher-paid baker roles, although an individual shop’s pay can differ by location, responsibilities, schedule, and experience.
BLS also reported different median annual wages by industry in May 2024:
- Bakers in special food services had a median annual wage of $39,000.
- Bakers in grocery and specialty food retailers had a median annual wage of $36,880.
- Bakers in bakeries and tortilla manufacturing had a median annual wage of $36,550.
The differences are relatively narrow within these three categories, but the categories are not interchangeable. A bakery producing and selling its own products may have a different operating model from a retailer or a special-food-service employer. The BLS figures also describe employees, not the earnings of bakery owners.
The projected 39,900 annual openings include the need to fill positions over time as well as employment growth. They should not be read as 39,900 newly created jobs each year. Together with the projected increase from 249,100 bakers in 2024 to 263,200 in 2034, the figures indicate continuing demand for baking labor across the decade.
Bakery establishments and business structure
The U.S. Census profile counts employer establishments by industry classification. In 2023, NAICS 311811, retail bakeries, had 9,219 employer establishments. NAICS 311812, commercial bakeries, had 2,842 employer establishments. NAICS 311821, cookie and cracker manufacturing, had 461 employer establishments.
| 2023 NAICS category | Employer establishments |
|---|---|
| 311811 retail bakeries | 9,219 |
| 311812 commercial bakeries | 2,842 |
| 311821 cookie and cracker manufacturing | 461 |
These are establishment counts, not counts of brands, owners, storefronts in every possible business category, or total bakery locations across the entire economy. The retail-bakery count is especially relevant to artisan bakery discussions because it captures a large set of bakery businesses selling directly to customers, while commercial bakeries and cookie and cracker manufacturers represent distinct production categories.
The counts also show why a single “bakery industry” number can be misleading. A small bread-focused shop, a regional manufacturer, and a cookie producer may all be associated with baking, but they can differ substantially in scale, distribution, staffing, and product mix.
What consumers buy and how often
The American Bakers Association’s Bakery Playbook: Bread found that 55% of consumers eat sandwich bread at least once a week. The same ABA Consumer Trends source found that 94% of consumers can be persuaded to spend a little more on baked goods or buy them on impulse. In addition, 45% browse the bread aisle to explore new items, and 74% consider bread a healthy choice in their diet.
Pastries also show regular consumption. ABA Consumer Trends reported that 56% of consumers enjoy pastries at least once a week, while 71% like pastries in seasonal flavors. For cookies, 70% of consumers like them to reflect the season, and 90% agree that baked goods are a fun part of celebrations.
Other product categories reveal different usage patterns:
- 52% of consumers had consumed soft and/or hard pretzels in the past 30 days, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Pretzels.
- 45% of Americans consume snack cakes and pies once a week, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Snack Cakes and Pies.
- 46% of consumers had eaten English muffins in the past 30 days, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: English Muffins.
- 61% of Americans consume tortillas at least once a year, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Tortillas.
- 86% of Americans had consumed pizza or flatbread in the past year, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Pizza and Flatbread.
The measures use different time periods, so they should not be combined into a single ranking of popularity. Weekly, past-30-day, annual, and past-year consumption answer different questions about consumer behavior.
Product preferences and opportunities
Consumer preferences point to several specific product and merchandising signals. ABA Consumer Trends found that 62% of consumers prefer soft bagels, while 60% purchase most of their bagels from the grocery store. For donuts, 81% purchase them to share with others and 33% purchase them from the grocery store bakery aisle.
For English muffins, 52% of Americans prefer savory toppings. For pizza and flatbread, 49% of consumers prefer thin crust. For buns and rolls, 50% of Americans say they are a must with hot dogs or hamburgers, and 74% believe bread items such as buns and rolls are an overall healthy choice.
Interest in variation appears in several categories. ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Snack Cakes and Pies reported that 93% of consumers are interested in limited-time-offer snack cakes and pies. The Crackers playbook reported that 60% are interested in crackers with unique ingredients, while 93% of parents agree crackers are a great kid-friendly snack. For tortillas, 49% of consumers have used social media for recipe ideas.
Pretzel purchasing also has a brand dimension: 45% of consumers mostly buy manufacturer brands, according to ABA’s Bakery Playbook: Pretzels. That figure applies to the reported consumer group and category; it does not establish that manufacturer brands dominate every bakery product segment.
The ABA Consumer Trends figures also include a changing dietary context. Among GLP-1 consumers, 95% had enjoyed a morning baked good in the past 30 days, while 41% were eating less meal-related baked goods. These two percentages describe different behaviors within the GLP-1 consumer group and should not be treated as contradictory totals for the entire population.
Ingredient, bakery, and food price movements
The Bureau of Labor Statistics bakery products article reported substantial price movement across selected periods. The Producer Price Index for wheat rose 132.2% from May 2020 to May 2022. Over that same May 2020-to-May 2022 period, the PPI for bakery products rose 10.2%, while the PPI for bread—including white, wheat, rye, and frozen bread—rose 9.0%.
The later period showed a different mix of movements. From May 2022 to December 2023, the PPI for flour and flour-base mixes and doughs fell 3.1%. During that period, the PPI for bakery products rose 10.5%, and the PPI for bread rose 13.2%. The input and finished-product indexes therefore did not move identically.
The year-over-year increase in bakery product prices slowed from 14.5% in November 2022 to 3.8% in December 2023, according to the same BLS bakery products article. A slower rate of increase is not the same as a decline: the reported comparison describes a change in the pace of price growth.
BLS also reported that food spending in 2022 was 27.8% above its 2020 level. Food away from home spending rose 53.2% from 2020 to 2022, while food at home spending rose 15.6%. Average annual expenditures for bakery products increased 16.1% from 2020 to 2022.
Chicken egg prices surged 248.1% in calendar year 2022, another figure reported in the BLS bakery products article. The statistic is for calendar-year price movement and should not be substituted for a current egg price or used to estimate any particular bakery’s costs.
Industry events, safety, and the wider food economy
The American Bakers Association’s 2026 Convention drew more than 550 registered attendees and welcomed nearly 60 commercial baking companies. ABA reported that its 2024 Convention drew nearly 500 industry professionals, bakers, and suppliers. The two attendance figures come from different convention years and are not a like-for-like measure of annual growth.
ABA also reported that its Safety Recognition Program awarded 28 member companies across 181 facilities in 2025. Participation increased 14% year over year. These figures describe program participation and recognition, not the total number of baking facilities or an industry-wide safety rate.
The ABA news release covering the 2026 Feeding the Economy report said that America’s food and agriculture industries generated more than $10.4 trillion in economic value and supported nearly 49 million U.S. jobs. It reported U.S. food and agriculture exports of more than $177.3 billion, with exports declining by roughly $5.4 billion year over year. The sector’s economic value increased by nearly $894 billion year over year, and the report was released by 35 food and agriculture groups.
Those 2026 report figures cover food and agriculture as a whole, not artisan bakeries specifically. They are useful as a measure of the surrounding economic system, while the ABA Economic Impact, BLS, Census, and ABA Consumer Trends figures provide more direct context for baking businesses, bakery workers, and baked-goods consumers.