Baking & Pastry Arts

Types of Degrees Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many baking & pastry arts/baker/pastry chef graduations there were in 2021-2022 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	2,195
Associate Degree	1,497
Basic Certificate	1,243
Bachelor’s Degree	94

What Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to baking & pastry arts 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 Baking & Pastry Arts Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in baking & pastry arts should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• 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.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Baking & Pastry Arts Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to baking & pastry arts:

• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
• 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.

Abilities for Baking & Pastry Arts Majors

A major in baking & pastry arts will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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.
• 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.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Baking & Pastry Arts Major?

People with a baking & pastry arts degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Bakers	7.6%	$26,520
Chefs and Head Cooks	9.6%	$48,460

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Baking & Pastry Arts?

This major is dominated by women with about 84% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of baking & pastry arts majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	66
Black or African American	220
Hispanic or Latino	292
White	728
International Students	37
Other Races/Ethnicities	154

How Much Do Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Baking & Pastry Arts majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $28,660 to $52,160 (25th to 75th percentile). 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 Baking & Pastry Arts

Some degrees associated with baking & pastry arts 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 baking & pastry arts careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	12.0%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	33.7%
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)	15.9%
Some College Courses	8.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	24.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	6.0%
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.	2.0%

Online Baking & Pastry Arts Programs

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)	115	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	4	0
Associate’s Degree	98	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Baking & Pastry Arts Worth It?

The median salary for a baking & pastry arts grad is $28,660 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Baking & Pastry Arts

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to baking & pastry arts.

Major	Number of Grads
Culinary Arts/Chef Training	10,546
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts	3,303
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager	1,394
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant	786
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services	335
Institutional Food Workers	204
Culinary Science/Culinology	203
Bartending/Bartender	157
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager	82
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter	28
Wine Steward/Sommelier	8

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.