Baking & Pastry Arts

Types of Degrees Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many baking and pastry arts/baker/pastry chef graduations there were in 2019-2020 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	1,732
Associate Degree	1,394
Basic Certificate	1,014
Bachelor’s Degree	50

What Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to baking and pastry arts and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Baking & Pastry Arts Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in baking and 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

When studying baking and pastry arts, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Baking & Pastry Arts Majors

As you progress with your baking and pastry arts 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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?

Below is a list of occupations associated with baking and pastry arts:

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?

The major attracts more women than men. About 86% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	42
Black or African American	209
Hispanic or Latino	282
White	683
International Students	75
Other Races/Ethnicities	103

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Baking & Pastry Arts, too. About 5.4% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Baking & Pastry Arts Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $28,660 to $52,160 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to baking and pastry arts. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

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 careers associated with baking and pastry arts require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to baking and pastry arts have obtained the following education levels.

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

In the 2019-2020 academic year, 202 schools offered some type of baking and pastry arts/baker/pastry chef program. 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)	107	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	5	0
Associate’s Degree	95	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 and 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 and pastry arts.

Major	Number of Grads
Culinary Arts/Chef Training	10,007
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts	3,763
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager	1,673
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant	932
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services	510
Bartending/Bartender	247
Institutional Food Workers	174
Culinary Science/Culinology	158
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager	122
Wine Steward/Sommelier	99
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter	31

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.