Sushi Chef Salary in NYC and the Rules for Hiring One

In New York City, advertised sushi cook jobs in September 2026 paid mostly $22 to $32 an hour, and salaried head or sous sushi chef roles $75,000 to $110,000. The legal floor is $17.00 an hour, and a salaried chef must earn at least $1,275 a week to be exempt from overtime. Every ad must show a real pay range, and a counter chef should be paid the full minimum wage, not a tip credit wage.

1. What to pay: official data and what competitors advertise

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no sushi chef category, but its kitchen figures give the spread. They cover the whole New York, Newark and Jersey City metro, including lower paying suburbs, so treat them as a floor for Manhattan.

Because every ad must carry a range, competitors' pay is visible. We read sushi postings on Culinary Agents and the Japanese-language board Vivinavi New York on 27 September 2026 (21 postings, a sample, not a survey):

How to set your number:

• Sushi cook: start at the metro cook 75th percentile ($22.75) and place yourself in the $22 to $32 band by how much fish work the job involves.
• Sous or second at the counter: the supervisor 75th to 90th percentile, $29 to $38 an hour, or a salary of at least $75,000.
• Head sushi chef: the chef median to 90th percentile, $71,780 to $120,370. On salary it must clear $66,300 a year (see section 3).
• Relocation: a one-off, not salary. See relocation packages.

2. The job ad: a real range is the law

The NYC salary transparency law covers employers with four or more employees (owners count) advertising a job done in the city. The ad must state the minimum and maximum pay you honestly expect to offer; "$20 an hour and up" fails. The range is base pay, so tips and bonuses sit outside it. A first violation fixed within 30 days of notice is not fined; uncured ones can cost up to $250,000. State Labor Law 194-b adds the same range duty plus a job description.

Copy and adapt. Post both versions:

More wording is in the sushi chef job description template.

3. Kitchen pay rules: minimum wage, overtime, spread of hours, tips

• Minimum wage: $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester from 1 January 2026 ($16.00 in the rest of the state). From 2027 it rises with a three year average of the Northeast consumer price index.
• Overtime and the exempt line: hourly cooks get time and a half after 40 hours a week. A salaried head chef can be exempt only with genuine executive duties and at least $1,275 a week ($66,300 a year) in the city.
• Spread of hours: under the hospitality wage order, any day whose first start to last finish runs over 10 hours earns one extra hour at the minimum rate, whatever the employee's regular rate (12 NYCRR 146-1.6). A lunch and dinner split shift from 11:00 to 22:00 triggers it every day.
• Uniforms: required whites that you do not launder mean uniform maintenance pay, unless they are wash and wear (146-1.7).
• Pay notice at hire: a written notice of pay rate and payday, in English and the employee's language if the state has a template. It has none in Japanese, so English complies; a Japanese copy is good practice.

4. The Food Protection Certificate

The Health Code requires a supervisor with a Food Protection Certificate on site whenever you are open, so split shifts usually need two or three holders. The online course is free; the in-person exam costs $24 at the Health Academy in Manhattan. A Japanese study guide exists and the exam is offered in 36 languages besides English; confirm Japanese when you book.

5. Where the candidates are

The Health Department's inspection dataset listed 1,063 restaurants with Japanese cuisine when we queried it on 27 September 2026 (Italian: 1,009): Manhattan 560, Brooklyn 239, Queens 186, Staten Island 46, the Bronx 31. Within Manhattan, 242 sit in the downtown ZIP codes (East Village, Lower East Side, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Tribeca) and 202 in Midtown. ZIP 10003 alone has 57. In Brooklyn the clusters are Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights and Greenpoint; in Queens, Flushing and Long Island City.

• A good East Village cook can walk to dozens of competitors, so expect a counteroffer. Send the signed offer and pay notice the day you agree terms.
• A Brooklyn or Queens restaurant can win on commute. Name the subway line in the ad.
• Two weeks' notice is custom, not law. Set the start two to three weeks after the offer.
• The metro has 38,251 Japanese nationals (MOFA, 1 October 2025). Post in Japanese too, and check work authorization on Form I-9; a cook on another employer's visa cannot simply move to you.

6. What one hire costs in the first year

Not included: workers' compensation (ask your carrier), health benefits, overtime, uniform pay and advertising. New York is not on the federal list of states facing a 2026 unemployment tax credit reduction.

7. Week by week, from ad to first shift

This week: count the Japanese restaurants in your ZIP code, fix the range, and list who holds a Food Protection Certificate on each shift. A chef brought from Japan runs on a much longer calendar; see opening in New York and the E-2 visa for restaurant staff.

General information checked against official sources on 27 September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Advertised pay figures are a small sample of public postings, not a survey. Confirm current rules with the agencies linked below or with employment counsel.