Salary
Average Salary: $23,140
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $966,000
Bakers aren't exactly rolling in money. They spend their days making and molding dough, but raking the dough in they are not. Unless you’ve invented the next Cronut-like fad, you're not going to be making a ton of money relative to the long hours you spend slaving away in the kitchen.
Median average salary for a baker in the United States is about $20k (Source). Sound low? Depending on where you work and how much experience you have, there’s potential for a slightly higher salary. Restaurant bakers employed full-time at a full-service restaurant earn slightly more, around $24k. Working as a baker part-time at a restaurant—and a sizable number, around 30 percent, of restaurant bakers do—will earn you slightly less (Source). Duh.
Is commercial baking calling your name? Large national wholesale bakers generally pay bakers around $26k per year. Interested in baking for established institutions? Bakers in elementary and secondary schools generally pay a little better, and you might scrape by with $30k per year. After you've worked decades of your life as a baker, however, you probably won't be earning much more than you started. Experienced bakers can make upwards of $34k per year (Source).
Long story short: You'll be making a lot of dough for other people, but not nearly as much dough for yourself.