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Best Colleges for Culinary Arts

50 Culinary Arts programs ranked by real graduate earnings, debt, and completion — from the College Scorecard Field-of-Study data.

⚡Quick answer

For Culinary Arts, Institute of Culinary Education (New York) ranks #1 by our outcome score, with median graduate earnings of $46,893. Rankings reflect earnings, debt, and completion — not reputation or cost — across 50 programs with published outcome data.

#	School	Credential	Median earnings	Median debt	Completers	Score
1	Institute of Culinary Education New York, NY	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$46,893	$6,439	677	92.2
2	Institute of Culinary Education	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$46,893	$6,439	317	92.1
3	Miami Dade College Miami, FL	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$50,344	$10,500	137	90.8
4	Dallas College Dallas, TX	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$44,490	$7,000	82	88.8
5	Seattle Central College Seattle, WA	Associate's Degree	$53,946	—	55	87
6	Arizona Culinary Institute Scottsdale, AZ	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$44,800	$9,500	155	86.6
7	Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY	Associate's Degree	$48,317	$12,000	564	86.3
8	Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$62,294	—	23	86
9	Scottsdale Community College Scottsdale, AZ	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$52,191	—	24	84.1
10	Connecticut State Community College Hartford, CT	Associate's Degree	$53,983	—	—	84.1
11	Manchester Community College	Associate's Degree	$53,983	—	18	83.9
12	College of DuPage Glen Ellyn, IL	Associate's Degree	$50,503	—	24	83
13	Schenectady County Community College Schenectady, NY	Associate's Degree	$48,073	—	26	81.6
14	Boston University Boston, MA	Master's Degree	$51,558	—	14	81.2
15	Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH	Associate's Degree	$50,055	—	—	81.2
16	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi Delhi, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$51,716	—	13	81.1
17	Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$61,944	$26,750	74	81
18	Southern Maine Community College South Portland, ME	Associate's Degree	$49,566	—	18	80.8
19	Connecticut State Community College Norwalk	Associate's Degree	$53,983	—	6	80.6
20	Johnson & Wales University-Providence Providence, RI	Bachelor's Degree	$55,056	$27,000	159	80.5
21	Connecticut State Community College Gateway	Associate's Degree	$53,983	—	5	80.4
22	National Louis University Chicago, IL	Associate's Degree	$45,609	$12,833	50	80.4
23	Kalamazoo Valley Community College Kalamazoo, MI	Associate's Degree	$45,697	$11,250	16	80.4
24	Grand Rapids Community College Grand Rapids, MI	Associate's Degree	$45,302	$12,319	33	79.4
25	Miami Dade College Miami, FL	Associate's Degree	$44,371	—	51	79.2
26	Joliet Junior College Joliet, IL	Associate's Degree	$44,605	—	39	79
27	SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill Cobleskill, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$48,346	—	12	78.9
28	Iowa Western Community College Council Bluffs, IA	Associate's Degree	$50,785	—	6	78.6
29	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi Delhi, NY	Associate's Degree	$50,208	—	7	78.2
30	Dallas College Dallas, TX	Associate's Degree	$44,490	—	30	78
31	Valencia College Orlando, FL	Associate's Degree	$41,850	$11,422	83	77.9
32	Madison Area Technical College Madison, WI	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$44,206	—	34	77.8
33	Montgomery County Community College Blue Bell, PA	Associate's Degree	$47,552	$12,771	14	77.6
34	Saint Paul College Saint Paul, MN	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$47,176	—	13	77.5
35	Des Moines Area Community College Ankeny, IA	Associate's Degree	$40,878	$8,334	25	77.4
36	Grand Rapids Community College Grand Rapids, MI	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$40,542	$7,705	26	77.1
37	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$48,094	—	5	76.6
38	Kirkwood Community College Cedar Rapids, IA	Associate's Degree	$42,218	$9,511	17	75.8
39	University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK	Associate's Degree	$46,231	—	10	75.7
40	Johnson & Wales University-Providence Providence, RI	Associate's Degree	$42,395	$14,167	375	75.1
41	Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte Charlotte, NC	Associate's Degree	$42,395	$14,167	217	75
42	Niagara County Community College Sanborn, NY	Associate's Degree	$41,072	$11,970	51	74.7
43	Texas State Technical College Waco, TX	Associate's Degree	$42,361	$11,000	15	74.6
44	Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC	Associate's Degree	$42,564	—	26	74.4
45	Saint Paul College Saint Paul, MN	Associate's Degree	$42,842	—	20	74.2
46	Atlantic Cape Community College Mays Landing, NJ	Associate's Degree	$41,359	$11,000	22	74.1
47	College of Lake County Grayslake, IL	Associate's Degree	$43,967	—	15	74
48	Pittsburgh Technical College Oakdale, PA	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$40,386	$9,500	30	73.9
49	Nicholls State University Thibodaux, LA	Bachelor's Degree	$46,969	$25,000	33	73.7
50	Walnut Hill College Philadelphia, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$47,308	$27,000	38	73.2

🔍 Filter Culinary Arts by state & degree level →

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Hidden Gems for Culinary Arts

Lower-profile schools with a genuinely strong outcome score for Culinary Arts — the famous brand names and mega-flagships are deliberately filtered out.

#	School	Median earnings	Admit rate	Score
1	Institute of Culinary Education New York, NY Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$46,893	—	92.2
2	Institute of Culinary Education Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$46,893	—	92.1
3	Seattle Central College Seattle, WA Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$53,946	—	87
4	Arizona Culinary Institute Scottsdale, AZ Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$44,800	—	86.6
5	Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$48,317	91%	86.3
6	Scottsdale Community College Scottsdale, AZ Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$52,191	—	84.1
7	Manchester Community College Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$53,983	—	83.9
8	Schenectady County Community College Schenectady, NY Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$48,073	—	81.6
9	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi Delhi, NY Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$51,716	89%	81.1
10	Southern Maine Community College South Portland, ME Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$49,566	—	80.8
11	Connecticut State Community College Norwalk Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$53,983	—	80.6
12	Johnson & Wales University-Providence Providence, RI Strong Culinary Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$55,056	88%	80.5

Hidden Gems use the same College Scorecard outcome score, then drop the pool’s most-selective brands (bottom-quartile admit rate) and largest campuses (top-quartile enrollment). Schools that don’t report admit rate or enrollment are not dropped by that guard.

How we ranked this

Programs are scored 0–100 within the Culinary Arts field (CIP 12.05) using three College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (weighted 70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, inverted so lower debt scores higher), and completer count (10%, log-scaled). Each input is percentile-ranked against the other Culinary Arts programs, so the score is robust to outliers and comparable across schools. Programs with no published earnings are excluded — never given a fabricated number. This is the same engine that powers our interactive Major Rankings. Minimum 5 scorable programs required to publish.

Frequently asked questions

Which college has the best Culinary Arts program?+

By our outcome score, Institute of Culinary Education (New York) ranks #1 for Culinary Arts, with median graduate earnings of $46,893.

How are these Culinary Arts programs ranked?+

Each program gets a 0–100 outcome score from three real College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, lower is better), and completer count (10%). Programs are compared within the major so the score reflects the best schools for this field specifically.

Where does the earnings and debt data come from?+

The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field-of-Study file, which publishes median earnings and median debt by institution and major (4-digit CIP). Figures are post-graduation medians; programs without published earnings are not scored and are omitted from this ranking.

Can I filter Culinary Arts programs by state or degree level?+

Yes. This page shows the national top programs; use the interactive Major Rankings tool to filter the same data by state, and by credential level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral).

Keep exploring

🔍 Culinary Arts rankings (filterable)🎓 All major rankings 🏫 Browse colleges 🆓 Tuition-free colleges ⭐ All Best-Of guides

Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Field of Study) · IPEDS Completions. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.