It can be difficult for waiters to get in all the hours they would like at the high paying locations. The competition will be fierce. Every night is not Friday or Saturday night either. Any restaurant can have a slow night, and bad weather and other factors can cut the returns. Waiters tend to tell you the amount they make on the best nights, not really the weekly or monthly average. There aren’t going to be very many waiters breaking $100K a year, and those waiters only get to do that for a few years. Still, for the right people, it’s a good career. At the lower end, for some people, it’s the only career.
I don’t know about the waiters, but at some hotels in Vegas and New York City and other places known for wealthy tourists there was a very long line to become a bellman and it was necessary to either know somebody or bribe somebody to get the job. They usually made more money than most of the mid level managers (like, say, a front desk manager or a gift shop manager) but often it was in cash, and if they dealt drugs or could hook you up with an escort or something similarly illegal they made even more.
This seven-year-old article says of waiters in New York City, “A good waiter or captain in a top restaurant can make more than $100,000 a year in salary and tips, and is likely to have benefits, including health coverage that can cost employers $700 a month. But most earn considerably less. An experienced restaurant manager may make $75,000 and is not entitled to participate in the tip pool.”
I been working as a waiter in spain for 10 years now and never made more then 25k a year it’s hard work. I work in a hight class 4 star sup hotel 300 room and it’s has 7 salons for wedding and that we have catered up to 6000 people in one day. worked 14 hours shifteds. And some time that 14 hours split so it’s like working 20 hours
Is that for real 65 k a year in the US
If anyone know of a good state were I can make that money I’ll move tomorrow
You aren’t going to get a work visa to be a waiter. So that means you can be a busboy instead. 
Correct. It is difficult to pull in high money at any service job just because there are so few peak hours during the week. I used to work a fancy hotel in New Orleans doing mostly catering during college in the 90’s. For high-end catering, the money was fantastic for me at the time but it averaged about $30 an hour with an occasional breakout gig that would push to over twice that. Bartending on late Friday and Saturday night could easily run over $100 an hour in tips. That is more than I make per hour now but we had to compete for those gigs and it required lots of setup work that was essentially free labor to the hotel ($2.13 an hour).
The point is that premier service jobs can pay a whole lot per hour but annual pay is generally based on a 40 hour work week and you just don’t get that in the service industry. Plus, it isn’t easy to get those. You have to have the look, knowledge and the demeanor plus go through a lot of service industry crap that most professionals in an office never have to deal with. That was probably the best job I ever had and the most pay per hour at the peak but it isn’t a good way to support a middle-class existence even if the money sounds like it should support it.
Shag,
What sort of crap do service industry types go through that most professionals in an office don’t have to deal with?
Working off the clock for no pay, dealing with drug abuse among fellow employees, high physical demands, accommodating the every whim of the paying clients, and sexual harassment by a gay male boss and his friends in my case. I had the sweetest college job going but that is what it took and there was no one to complain to if it went wrong. I work in a high level corporate job now. It requires lots of knowledge and BS but it is nothing compared to that. I would still take it today over working at many jobs I see however.
i live in maui and serving gigs here aren’t so bad. i work roughly 5 hrs a day and make about 45000/yr in CLAIMED tips
go to the rich kid’s tumblr (or is the rich kids of instagram?) and look at some of their receipts. the gratuity is in the tens of thousands for a single ticket, so there’s gotta be some waiters out there making bank.
being between a hungry, grumpy person and their food is a special kind of hell. i promise you.
I worked at one of the highest end places in Utah in '89-'90. Back then a waiter on a good night could bring in $500. On a great night a couple grand. But most nights were only $100-200. Wages were tiny. So while for a lowly busboy/dishwasher like myself, those $2000 nights made the waitstaff seem like rockstars, I don’t thank any of them were bringing in more than $50,000 a year. Figuring on inflation, yeah maybe a top grossing waiter could bring in $100,000. But that would be really rare, and really, really hard work.
Or what most everyone else has already said. 
It’s also a cinch to under-report your tips. If you play it safe and only report 75% of your cash tips, that untaxed 25% (in these high end places) is pretty sweet. I bet 50% is more common. And if you land a truly generous tip - like 35% or more on a huge ticket, there’s no reason not to pocket everything above 15%.
I once took a job waiting table, and left 6 mnths to the day, on a 6mnth holiday in SEAsia. I had banked $6000 in 6 months. See ya sucka’s!
I think that was a personal best, for me.
I don’t get it. Did you leave out a zero?
Why do you have to report anything (apart from conscience) Who would know? (Genuine question- do you have to report tips?)
Yes, you do. IIRC Here in CA, your employer has to assume you got 15% on all your tables, and deduct from your paycheck appropriately.
Or maybe that’s just something some restaurants do. But I’ve definitely heard of the practice.
Thanks. We don’t tip here.
I’m curious, there’s no tipping on anything, or just not for food?
The point has come up quite a few times (just so you are aware- I’m not being snarky) but we don’t tip at all. Officially.
Certainly, I would never dream of tipping a bar waitress. Maybe round up a taxi fare or whatever, but we have minimum set wages so tipping is not a source of income. (I may have explained that a bit clumsily).
However, no tipping. You pay the account and that is it.