Culinary Arts is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #97 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Culinary Arts Schools in Iowa ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 181 degrees in culinary arts to qualified students.
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. We derive our Best Overall Culinary Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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 Iowa ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
The schools below may not offer all types of culinary arts degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Every student who is interested in culinary arts has to take a look at Des Moines Area Community College. Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #408 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means DMACC is a great college overall.
There were about 45 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at DMACC in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the culinary arts program at Des Moines Area Community College earn $2,163 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat Kirkwood Community College if you want to pursue a degree in culinary arts. Located in the city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 16th out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 40 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at Kirkwood Community College in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, culinary arts degree recipients usually earn around $21,391 in the first five years of their career.
Western Iowa Tech Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in culinary arts. Located in the small city of Sioux City, Western Iowa Tech Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 32nd out of 37 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 33 culinary arts students who graduated with this degree at Western Iowa Tech Community College in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, culinary arts degree recipients usually earn about $24,061 in their early careers.
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. We derive our Best Overall Culinary Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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