Personal & Culinary Services

Types of Degrees Personal & Culinary Services Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many personal and culinary services graduations there were in 2019-2020 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	63,820
Basic Certificate	45,543
Associate Degree	9,697
Bachelor’s Degree	773

What Personal & Culinary Services Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to personal and culinary services were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Personal & Culinary Services Majors

Personal and Culinary Services majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Personal & Culinary Services Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to personal and culinary services:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Personal & Culinary Services Majors

As you progress with your personal and culinary services degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Personal & Culinary Services Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with personal and culinary services:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Bakers	7.6%	$26,520
Barbers	13.5%	$27,960
Bartenders	2.5%	$22,550
Butchers and Meat Cutters	5.7%	$31,580
Chefs and Head Cooks	9.6%	$48,460
Cooks	9.0%	$28,650
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	7.7%	$26,860
Cooks, Private Household	5.2%	$37,590
Cooks, Restaurant	11.8%	$26,530
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	9.3%	$32,450
First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers	14.6%	$38,400
Food Service Managers	9.0%	$54,240
Funeral Service Managers	7.0%	$79,180
Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists	13.0%	$24,730
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance	12.5%	$64,250
Manicurists and Pedicurists	13.2%	$24,330
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Directors	3.8%	$52,650
Skincare Specialists	13.7%	$31,290
Slaughterers and Meat Packers	0.6%	$28,260
Spa Managers	14.6%	$38,400

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Personal & Culinary Services?

This major is dominated by women with about 64% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of personal and culinary services majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	385
Black or African American	1,832
Hispanic or Latino	1,729
White	4,627
International Students	350
Other Races/Ethnicities	774

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Personal & Culinary Services. About 3.6% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Personal & Culinary Services Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $28,660 to $57,620 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to personal and culinary services. This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Personal & Culinary Services

Some degrees associated with personal and culinary services may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for personal and culinary services careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	13.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	30.9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	21.2%
Some College Courses	7.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	14.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	11.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.8%
Master’s Degree	1.0%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.7%
Doctoral Degree	0.4%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.2%

Online Personal & Culinary Services Programs

In 2019-2020, 2,154 schools offered a personal and culinary services program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2,947	8
Certificate (2-4 Years)	208	1
Associate’s Degree	849	11
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	3	0
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Personal & Culinary Services Worth It?

The median salary for a personal and culinary services grad is $36,190 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Personal & Culinary Services

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to personal and culinary services.

Major	Number of Grads
Mechanic & Repair Technologies	100,894
Precision Production	52,005
Construction Trades	37,535
Transportation & Materials Moving	26,683

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By U.S. Army Europe Images under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.