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General Cooking & Culinary Arts

Types of Degrees General Cooking & Culinary Arts Majors Are Earning

People majoring in General Cooking & Culinary Arts can earn degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	1,673
Associate’s Degree	868
Master’s Degree	1,529

What General Cooking & Culinary Arts Majors Need to Know

Programs in General Cooking & Culinary Arts build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

Coursework in General Cooking & Culinary Arts emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Food Production — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 3.4 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 3.3 / 5; level 3.1 / 7.
• Production and Processing — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.0 / 7.
• Administration and Management — Importance 3.0 / 5; level 2.9 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills developed in a General Cooking & Culinary Arts program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Monitoring — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 3.6 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 3.4 / 5; level 3.3 / 7.
• Coordination — Importance 3.3 / 5; level 3.4 / 7.
• Time Management — Importance 3.3 / 5; level 3.4 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 3.3 / 5; level 3.0 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to General Cooking & Culinary Arts careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Problem Sensitivity — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 3.4 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 3.6 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.
• Near Vision — Importance 3.4 / 5; level 3.3 / 7.
• Speech Clarity — Importance 3.4 / 5; level 3.0 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Getting Information	3.6 / 7
Performing General Physical Activities	3.4 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	3.4 / 7
Handling and Moving Objects	3.4 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.3 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.3 / 7
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings	3.3 / 7
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events	3.3 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.2 / 7
Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others	3.2 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by General Cooking & Culinary Arts professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	✓
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	✓
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Menu planning software	Data base user interface and query software	—
Facebook	Web page creation and editing software	—
Inventory management software	Inventory management software	—
Delphi Technology	Financial analysis software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	—
Point of sale POS restaurant software	Point of sale POS software	—
Food safety labeling systems	Compliance software	—
Recipe cost control software	Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates include:

• Cook
• Line Cook
• Kitchen Supervisor
• Kitchen Manager
• Food and Beverage Director
• Cook Manager
• Specialty Foods Cook
• Production Cook
• Hotel and Restaurant Cook
• Foreign Food Specialty Cook
• Fry Cook
• Restaurant Cook
• Chef De Partie
• Larder Cook
• Broiler Cook

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
High school diploma or equivalent	44.1%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	20.5%
Less than a high school diploma	20.1%
Postsecondary certificate	6.5%
Some college courses	5.9%
Bachelor’s degree	3.0%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in General Cooking & Culinary Arts?

Gender Distribution

This field has a relatively balanced gender distribution: 55.8% women and 44.2% men among General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	2,326	55.8%
Men	1,839	44.2%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	1,057	25.4%
Asian	261	6.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1,759	42.2%
Black or African American	660	15.8%
American Indian / Alaska Native	59	1.4%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander	25	0.6%
Two or More Races	202	4.8%
Race Unknown	105	2.5%
International Students	37	0.9%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do General Cooking & Culinary Arts Graduates Earn?

College Scorecard reports median earnings of General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. These numbers tend to grow steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$24,617
4 years	$29,033
5 years	$32,264

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $32,264 — roughly 31% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Is a Degree in General Cooking & Culinary Arts Worth It?

Looking purely at the federal earnings tracker, General Cooking & Culinary Arts graduates earn a median of $29,033 four years after completion — about 24% below the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000). On earnings alone, this program does not show an income premium over the baseline; non-financial outcomes (career interests, certification requirements, advancement potential) are typically the stronger argument for fields in this range.

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	Annual Degrees Awarded
Culinary Arts and Related Services	24,487
Culinary Arts/Chef Training	11,194
Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef	5,539
Restaurant, Culinary, and Catering Management/Manager	1,343
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant	1,052
Culinary Arts and Related Services, Other	333
Culinary Science/Culinology	301
Bartending/Bartender	237
Institutional Food Workers	181
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager	75
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter	60
Wine Steward/Sommelier	7

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.