by our College Data Analytics Team
When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.
Culinary Arts is the 97th most popular major in the country with 19,806 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, culinary arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $24,855 and had an average of $17,765 in loans still to pay off.
Across Illinois, there were 668 culinary arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $27,223 and $13,205 respectively.
For this year’s “Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 18 colleges that offer a degree in culinary arts. To top this list, a school must have a successful culinary arts program that graduates more students in the field than other colleges that offer the same major.
For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
The culinary arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois”.
You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois culinary arts students.
Out of the 18 schools in the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, National Louis University landed the #1 spot on the list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s culinary arts degrees to 53 students in 2020-2021.
Out of the 18 schools in the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College landed the #2 spot on the list. City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 153 ’s culinary arts degrees to qualified students.
Full City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College Culinary Arts Report
Out of the 18 schools in the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Joliet Junior College landed the #3 spot on the list. Joliet Junior College is a fairly large public school situated in Joliet, Illinois. It awarded 46 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Out of the 18 schools in the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, College of Lake County landed the #4 spot on the list. Grayslake, Illinois is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s culinary arts degrees to 110 students in 2020-2021.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Elgin Community College. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. Elgin Community College is a public institution located in Elgin, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 98 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
College of DuPage ranked #6 on this year’s Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. College of DuPage is a public institution located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 19 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Moraine Valley Community College ranked #7 on this year’s Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. MVCC is a fairly large school located in Palos Hills, Illinois that handed out 32 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Read full report on Culinary Arts at Moraine Valley Community College
Roosevelt University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s culinary arts degrees to 12 students in 2020-2021.
Illinois Central College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. Illinois Central College is a medium-sized school located in East Peoria, Illinois that handed out 10 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Rend Lake College ranked #10 on this year’s Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. Ina, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s culinary arts degrees to 16 students in 2020-2021.
McHenry County College came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. MCC is a medium-sized school located in Crystal Lake, Illinois that handed out 14 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Triton College did quite well in the 2023 Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking, coming in at #11. Triton College is a medium-sized public school situated in River Grove, Illinois. It awarded 9 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Southwestern Illinois College came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. SWIC is a medium-sized school located in Belleville, Illinois that handed out 8 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
With a ranking of #13, Saint Augustine College did quite well on the 2023 Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 4 degrees to qualified ’s culinary arts students in 2020-2021.
With a ranking of #15, Richland Community College did quite well on the 2023 Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. Richland Community College is a public institution located in Decatur, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 29 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Read full report on Culinary Arts at Richland Community College
With a ranking of #15, Lincoln Land Community College did quite well on the 2023 Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois list. LLCC is a small school located in Springfield, Illinois that handed out 12 ’s culinary arts degrees in 2020-2021.
Kaskaskia College came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. Kaskaskia College is located in Centralia, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 7 ’s culinary arts degrees to qualified students.
Dominican University came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Most Well Attended Culinary Arts Major in Illinois ranking. Located in River Forest, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 0 diplomas to qualified ’s culinary arts students in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
Read more about our data sources and methodologies
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