A typical architect in California earns about $112,000 a year, according to the jobs site Indeed. For lawyers and software engineers, the average figures are more than $115,000.

But beating them all — by a lot — is an unlikely job title: In-N-Out Burger store manager.

According to the latest numbers from the Irvine hamburger chain, the average yearly pay of its restaurant managers is now more than $160,000. That’s roughly triple the industry average.

“In-N-Out is just eons above everybody else,” said Saru Jayaraman, who leads the Food Labor Research Center at U.C. Berkeley. “On wages and benefits, they really are the best large chain.”

A family-owned company, In-N-Out is known for treating its employees well. Denny Warnick, vice president of operations, said in an email that the approach was set down with the company’s founding in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder, who made quality service a central focus.



“Paying their associates well was just one way to help maintain that focus, and those beliefs remain firmly in place with us today,” Warnick said.

In-N-Out workers get at least $13 an hour to start, and can eventually rise through the ranks to store manager — no college degree necessary. Benefits include 401(k) plans, paid vacation, and health, dental, and vision plans. (California’s minimum wage for large companies recently bumped up to $11, and is required by law to hit $15 by 2022.)

In-N-Out employees enjoy some of the highest wages of the fast food industry. (Tom Coates/CC BY-NC 2.0)

Jayaraman said In-N-Out wasn’t performing charity — a loyal workforce means increased productivity, less employee turnover, and in the long run larger profits.

“Our research shows that companies that take the high road make a profit not in spite of paying their workers better but because they pay their workers better,” she said.

If other fast food establishments have been reluctant to raise wages, Jayaraman added, it’s because pressure from investors has elevated quarterly gains above the potential long-term benefits of happy workers. In-N-Out has no public shareholders.

But isn’t the work a grind? To be sure, many of the accounts from In-N-Out employees on the job review website Glassdoor cite hard work and long hours.

Even so, more than 90 percent said they’d recommend the workplace to a friend.

That’s one reason In-N-Out was №4 in Glassdoor’s latest national ranking of the best places to work — beating out Google, LinkedIn, and Salesforce, among many others.

This article is from the California Sun, a newsletter that delivers California’s most compelling news to your inbox each morning — for free. Sign up here.