2025 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
Culinary Arts is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #23 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 16 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,331 associate degrees in culinary arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Culinary Arts School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of culinary arts for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality culinary arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this 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 Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on culinary arts students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other culinary arts students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for culinary arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized culinary arts related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Culinary Arts Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Culinary Arts in the Middle Atlantic Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in culinary arts.
10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for an Associate in Culinary Arts
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in culinary arts needs to take a look at Culinary Institute of America. The Culinary Institute of America is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Hyde Park.
Soon after graduating, culinary arts associate recipients typically make around $28,049 in their early careers.
More information about a associate in culinary arts from Culinary Institute of America
Niagara County Community College is a wonderful decision for students interested in an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the rural area of Sanborn, Niagara County Community College is a public college with a small student population.
Soon after graduation, culinary arts associate recipients typically earn about $26,514 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a associate in culinary arts from Niagara County Community College
Delaware Technical Community College - Terry is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the small city of Dover, Delaware Tech is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the culinary arts program report average early career wages of $26,031.
More information about a associate in culinary arts from Delaware Technical Community College - Terry
Atlantic Cape Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the rural area of Mays Landing, Atlantic Cape Community College is a public college with a small student population.
Associate recipients from the culinary arts program at Atlantic Cape Community College make $5,363 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a associate in culinary arts from Atlantic Cape Community College
Nassau Community College is a large public college located in the large suburb of Garden City.More information about a associate in culinary arts from Nassau Community College