A degree in culinary arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #97 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Culinary Arts Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 796 degrees in culinary arts annually.
The culinary arts program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Culinary Arts rankings. For our Best Overall Culinary Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Culinary Arts Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the culinary arts degrees they offer, see the list below.
It is difficult to beat National Louis University if you want to pursue a degree in culinary arts. Located in the large city of Chicago, NLU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #385 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NLU is a great university overall.
There were about 93 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at NLU in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the culinary arts program earn around $24,786 in their early career salary.
College of DuPage is a good option for students interested in a degree in culinary arts. COD is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Glen Ellyn. A Best Colleges rank of #731 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means COD is a great college overall.
There were about 38 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at COD in the most recent year we have data available. Culinary Arts degree recipients from College of DuPage earn a boost of about $2,202 above the average earnings of culinary arts graduates.
It is hard to beat Joliet Junior College if you wish to pursue a degree in culinary arts. Joliet Junior College is a moderately-sized public college located in the large suburb of Joliet. This college ranks 55th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 143 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at Joliet Junior College in the most recent data year. Those culinary arts students who get their degree from Joliet Junior College make $3,502 more than the standard culinary arts student.
City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in culinary arts. Located in the large city of Chicago, Kennedy-King College is a public college with a small student population. This college ranks 82nd out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 95 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at Kennedy-King College in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, culinary arts degree recipients usually earn an average of $19,447 in the first five years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The culinary arts program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Culinary Arts rankings. For our Best Overall Culinary Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
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