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2025 Best Culinary Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools

6 Colleges in the United States
514 Bachelor's Degrees
$29,943 Avg Early-Career Salary
Culinary Arts is about average in terms of popularity for bachelor's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #216 out of the 363 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for culinary arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 514 bachelor's degrees in culinary arts to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Culinary Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Culinary Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools The culinary arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality culinary arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for culinary arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Culinary Arts Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Culinary Arts Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Culinary Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Culinary Arts in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in culinary arts.

Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Culinary Arts

1

It is difficult to beat Culinary Institute of America if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in culinary arts. The Culinary Institute of America is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Hyde Park.

Culinary Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Culinary Institute of America get an earnings boost of approximately $13,865 above the average earnings of culinary arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from Culinary Institute of America

2
168 Annual Graduates
$32,775 Median Starting Salary
$47,978 Median Student Debt

Johnson & Wales University - Providence is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in culinary arts. Located in the medium-sized city of Providence, JWU Providence is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Those culinary arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Johnson & Wales University - Providence receive $2,832 more than the typical culinary arts student.

More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University - Providence

3
14 Annual Graduates

National Louis University is a good option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in culinary arts. NLU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from National Louis University

4

It's difficult to beat Nicholls State University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in culinary arts. Located in the city of Thibodaux, Nicholls State University is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the culinary arts program report average early career earnings of $23,038.

More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from Nicholls State University

5
UNE crest
Universidad del Este
Carolina, PR

Located in the suburb of Carolina, UNE is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the culinary arts program report average early career earnings of $14,017.

More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from Universidad del Este

6
28 Annual Graduates
$27,593 Median Starting Salary
$66,622 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Philadelphia, The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College is a private for-profit college with a fairly small student population.

After graduating, culinary arts bachelor's recipients typically earn around $27,593 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in culinary arts from The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College

Culinary Arts by Region

View the Best Culinary Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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One of 4 majors within the Personal & Culinary Services area of study, Culinary Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Culinary Arts Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Culinary Arts/Chef Training 205
Culinary Science/Culinology 102
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef 88
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager 84
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services 35

Related Major Annual Graduates
Funeral & Mortuary Science 202

Notes and References

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