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Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina

2023 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina

11 Colleges
$25,389 Avg Salary
$15,195 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree School for You

With 811 degrees and certificates handed out in 2021-2022, culinary arts is the #11 most popular major in North Carolina.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina ranking is one of many tools that Trade College Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 11 schools in North Carolina to see which ones offered the best associate degree programs for trade school students.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina

The colleges and universities below are the best for culinary arts majors pursuing a associate degree.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Johnson & Wales University - Charlotte the best school in North Carolina for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the large city of Charlotte, JWU Charlotte is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from JWU Charlotte carry an average student debtload of $16,236. Assuming that a graduate chooses a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly loan payment is $348.

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The excellent associate degree programs at Wake Technical Community College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in North Carolina. Wake Technical Community College is a very large public school located in the suburb of Raleigh.

The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Wake Technical Community College take out while working on their Associate Degree is $20,302.

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The excellent associate degree programs at Central Piedmont Community College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in North Carolina. Located in the city of Charlotte, Central Piedmont Community College is a public college with a large student population.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Central Carolina Community College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina list. Central Carolina Community College is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Sanford.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the city of Asheville, A-B Tech is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

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Southwestern Community College ranked #6 on this year’s Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the town of Sylva, Southwestern Community College is a public school with a small student population.

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Fayetteville Technical Community College landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best associate degree culinary arts programs. Located in the city of Fayetteville, FTCC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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Guilford Technical Community College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina list. Guilford Technical Community College is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Jamestown.

Culinary Arts majors at Guilford Technical Community College take out an average of $28,153 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

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With a ranking of #9, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute did quite well on this year’s best schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. CCCTI is a small public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Hudson.

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#10

Robeson Community College

Lumberton, NC

With a ranking of #10, Robeson Community College did quite well on this year’s best schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Robeson Community College is a small public school located in the distant town of Lumberton.

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Best Culinary Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Culinary Arts Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
South Carolina 215
Georgia 864
Arkansas 283
Florida 1,298
West Virginia 59
Louisiana 367
Virginia 357
Alabama 94
Kentucky 359
Tennessee 104
Mississippi 320

One of 4 majors within the trade school area of study, culinary arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Culinary Arts Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Culinary Arts/Chef Training 10,546
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef 5,029
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

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

Related Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 124,611
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,186
Casino Operations and Services 385
Other Personal & Culinary Services 95

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to U.S. Army Europe Images.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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