Cooks, Private Household

Prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.

Most important skills

Critical Thinking
Service Orientation
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Speaking
Monitoring
Social Perceptiveness
Complex Problem Solving

Key knowledge

Customer and Personal Service
Food Production
Sales and Marketing
Administration and Management
Production and Processing
Mathematics
English Language
Economics and Accounting

What the work involves

Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
Create and explore new cuisines.
Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Social, Artistic.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Post-Secondary Certificate (38.5% of respondents)
Related experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (30.8%)
On-the-job training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (42.3%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Cooks, Private Household is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	Very low	Lower on contact with others than 92% of occupations compared	42% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time”
Dealing with the public	Low	Lower on dealing with the public than 68% of occupations compared	27% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important”
Teamwork	Very low	Lower on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared	46% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all”
Freedom to make decisions	Moderate	Lower on freedom to make decisions than 59% of occupations compared	42% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	High	Higher on time pressure than 73% of occupations compared	50% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day”
Conflict situations	Very low	Lower on conflict situations than 89% of occupations compared	69% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Very low	Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 96% of occupations compared	65% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 75% of occupations compared	38% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: high
Conflict situations: very low
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

No contact with others: 0%
Occasional contact with others: 20.83%
Contact with others about half the time: 16.67%
Contact with others most of the time: 41.67%
Constant contact with others: 20.83%

n = 24, Occupational Expert 08/2023