Culinary Arts

Types of Degrees Culinary Arts Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many culinary arts graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	22

What Culinary Arts Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to culinary arts and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Culinary Arts Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Culinary Arts Majors

culinary arts majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.

Abilities for Culinary Arts Majors

Culinary Arts majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Culinary Arts Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with culinary arts:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Food Scientists and Technologists	5.9%	$65,300
Food Service Managers	9.0%	$54,240
Professors	9.4%	$65,660

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Culinary Arts?

The major attracts more women than men. About 82% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of culinary arts majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	14
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

Geographic Diversity

Culinary Arts appeals to people across the globe. About 13.6% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• South Korea
• China
• India
• Mexico
• Canada

How Much Do Culinary Arts Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that culinary arts students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a master’s degree made a median starting salary of $38,764 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $38,764 (25th percentile) and $38,764 (75th percentile).

Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a culinary arts degree.

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $28,450 to $52,160 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to culinary arts. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Culinary Arts

Some careers associated with culinary arts require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for culinary arts careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	16.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	43.9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	11.4%
Some College Courses	9.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	7.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	10.8%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.6%
Master’s Degree	1.5%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.3%
Doctoral Degree	0.6%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.3%

Online Culinary Arts Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 643 schools offered some type of culinary arts program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	593	4
Certificate (2-4 Years)	36	0
Associate’s Degree	612	7
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	6	1
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Culinary Arts Worth It?

The median salary for a culinary arts grad is $33,210 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By U.S. Army Europe Images under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.