Culinary education spans far more than a single type of chef-training program. The latest College Scorecard field-of-study file contains 1,234 institution-credential rows for Culinary Arts and Related Services (CIP 12.05), while federal labor data shows a large and growing market for cooks, chefs, and head cooks. Together, these figures describe the scale of culinary training and the range of outcomes associated with it, not a guaranteed result for any individual student.
Contents
- How many culinary programs and credentials are represented?
- Which credential levels do culinary programs offer?
- Who operates culinary programs?
- What do culinary program earnings and debt measures show?
- What do chefs and head cooks earn?
- How large is the cooking job market?
How many culinary programs and credentials are represented?
The most recent College Scorecard data download contains 1,234 institution-credential rows for Culinary Arts and Related Services. The file was released in 2025/2026 and covers 956 public records, 181 private for-profit records, 93 private nonprofit records, and 4 foreign-control records.
These are institution-credential rows, so they should not be read as a simple count of unique campuses. One institution can appear more than once when it offers more than one credential level. The row structure is useful for seeing how culinary education is distributed across program types and control categories.
The file reports 27,268 credentials in IPEDSCOUNT1 and 28,142 in IPEDSCOUNT2. According to the College Scorecard technical documentation, these fields represent recognized postsecondary credentials reported to IPEDS for two consecutive award years. The counts can include multiple credentials for one student, so they are award-year credential counts rather than a headcount of distinct graduates.
Which credential levels do culinary programs offer?
Undergraduate certificates or diplomas are the largest credential group, appearing in 667 of the 1,234 culinary institution-credential rows. Associate degrees are the second-largest group, with 483 rows. The remaining credential levels are much less common in this file.
| Credential level | Institution-credential rows |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate certificate or diploma | 667 |
| Associate degree | 483 |
| Bachelor’s degree | 64 |
| Master’s degree | 8 |
| Doctoral degree | 3 |
| Graduate or professional certificate | 2 |
| Non-credential preparatory or teacher-certification program | 7 |
Bachelor’s degrees account for 64 rows. Master’s degrees appear in 8 rows, doctoral degrees in 3, and graduate or professional certificates in 2. Non-credential preparatory or teacher-certification programs account for 7 rows.
The concentration in shorter undergraduate credentials and associate degrees is also visible in the award counts. Undergraduate-certificate rows report 18,669 IPEDSCOUNT1 credentials and 19,694 IPEDSCOUNT2 credentials. Those figures are for the two consecutive IPEDS award years represented by the most recent field-of-study file; they are not a forecast of future enrollment or completion.
Who operates culinary programs?
Public institutions account for the most institution-credential rows: 956. They report 12,434 IPEDSCOUNT1 credentials and 13,110 IPEDSCOUNT2 credentials. Private for-profit institutions account for 181 rows, with 11,985 IPEDSCOUNT1 credentials and 12,186 IPEDSCOUNT2 credentials.
Private nonprofit institutions account for 93 rows. Their reported counts are 2,849 IPEDSCOUNT1 credentials and 2,846 IPEDSCOUNT2 credentials. Foreign-control records account for 4 rows and report 0 IPEDSCOUNT1 credentials in the file.
The row totals and credential counts answer different questions. Public institutions dominate the number of rows, while the award counts show how many IPEDS-reported credentials are associated with each control category over the two represented award years. Neither measure alone indicates program quality, student satisfaction, selectivity, or the likelihood of a particular job outcome.
The College Scorecard aggregation filtered records to CIP 12.05, Culinary Arts and Related Services. Suppressed and nonnumeric values were excluded from relevant earnings and debt denominators, and the downloaded rows were aggregated transparently. That scope matters when comparing these figures with a school’s own enrollment or graduate reports.
What do culinary program earnings and debt measures show?
College Scorecard earnings data provides a broad comparison of reported outcomes four years after completion, but the available records are not complete for every culinary row. Among 945 rows with a non-suppressed national median earnings value, the median row value is $34,272. Among 941 rows with a non-suppressed national 25th-percentile earnings value, the median row value is $21,209.
At the upper quartile, 945 rows have a non-suppressed national 75th-percentile earnings value, and the median row value is $45,557. The highest non-suppressed national four-year median earnings value among culinary rows is $92,374. The lowest is $30,572. The highest non-suppressed four-year national 75th-percentile earnings value is $128,180.
The file also includes an earlier outcome point. Among 207 rows with a non-suppressed median earnings value one year after completion, the median row value is $25,227. The one-year and four-year measures should be kept separate: they represent different post-completion time points and different sets of rows with available, non-suppressed values.
Debt measures are available for fewer rows. Among 174 rows with a non-suppressed median federal debt value for students at program completion, the median row value is $13,000. Among 70 rows with a non-suppressed median federal debt value for parents, the median row value is $10,326.
These College Scorecard earnings and debt measures describe federally aided students and are not a census of every culinary graduate. The row-level medians also should not be interpreted as one national median salary for every person who studies culinary arts. They summarize the available program rows under the file’s reporting rules.
What do chefs and head cooks earn?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook reports that chefs and head cooks held 197,300 jobs in 2024. Their median annual pay was $60,990 in May 2024, equivalent to median hourly pay of $29.32.
Pay varied substantially across the occupation. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $36,000 annually in May 2024, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than $96,030. These are occupation-wide wage measures, not the earnings of a specific culinary-school graduate.
Industry also mattered. Median annual pay was $73,110 in traveler accommodation, $69,430 in amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, $59,450 in food services and drinking places, and $57,350 in healthcare and social assistance in May 2024.
Food services and drinking places employed 63% of chefs and head cooks in 2024. Traveler accommodation employed 9%, and self-employed workers represented 6%. The employment shares help explain why an occupation-wide median can conceal meaningful differences in workplace setting and pay.
How large is the cooking job market?
BLS projects 211,300 chef and head-cook jobs in 2034, up from 197,300 in 2024. The forecast calls for 7% employment growth from 2024 to 2034, or 14,000 net new jobs. BLS also projects about 24,400 openings for chefs and head cooks per year on average during that period. These are forecasts for 2024–2034, not historical counts or guarantees.
The broader cooks category is much larger. The BLS cooks profile reports 2,705,800 cook jobs in 2025. The median hourly wage was $17.62 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $12.85 per hour, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than $22.84 per hour.
Restaurant cooks held 1,417,500 jobs in 2025, making that the largest detailed cook category in the supplied BLS profile. BLS projects 12% growth for restaurant-cook employment from 2025 to 2035, with 171,400 additional jobs. It projects about 393,200 cook openings per year on average during 2025–2035.
The cook and chef/head-cook figures use different occupation groups and forecast periods, so they should not be combined into one employment total. They show two layers of the labor market: a very large cook workforce and a smaller chef and head-cook occupation with higher reported median pay.
The BLS personal and culinary services field-of-degree profile reports a $45,000 median annual wage for the degree field in its 2023 ACS wage/outcome profile. In that profile, chefs and head cooks were 16% of workers with a personal and culinary services degree, while restaurant cooks were 5%.
That field-of-degree profile is broader than Culinary Arts and Related Services alone, and its occupation percentages describe workers with a personal and culinary services degree. It therefore adds context about related education and occupations rather than serving as a direct salary estimate for every culinary program.
The combined statistics point to a wide training market centered on undergraduate certificates and associate degrees, varied institutional ownership, and a labor market with many cooking roles. Earnings, debt, occupation, industry, geography, and measurement date all affect how any one number should be read.
Sources and scope notes
- College Scorecard Data Home — most recent field-of-study download used for CIP 12.05 rows, credentials, earnings, and debt measures; released 2025/2026.
- College Scorecard Technical Documentation — definitions for IPEDSCOUNT1 and IPEDSCOUNT2 and field-of-study measures; most recent documentation, September 2025.
- BLS: Chefs and Head Cooks — 2024 employment and May 2024 wage data, plus 2024–2034 projections.
- BLS: Cooks — 2025 employment and May 2025 wage data, plus 2025–2035 projections.
- BLS: Personal and Culinary Services — 2023 ACS field-of-degree wage and occupation profile.
College Scorecard credential counts are IPEDS-reported counts for two consecutive award years and can count multiple credentials for one student. Its earnings and debt measures describe federally aided students and are not a census of every culinary graduate. BLS occupation statistics describe labor-market occupations associated with culinary education, not guaranteed outcomes for any individual school or graduate.