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Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in California

2023 Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in California

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Finding the Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate School for You

Culinary Arts is the #16 most popular major in California with 1,378 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

With all the trade school programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 4 schools in California to see which ones offered the best basic certificate programs for trade school students.

View our full ranking methodology.


 

2023 Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for culinary arts majors pursuing a basic certificate.

Top California Trade Schools for an Award Taking Less Than 1 Year in Culinary Arts

Our 2023 rankings named Institute of Culinary Education - Los Angeles the best school in California for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. Institute of Culinary Education - Los Angeles is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Pasadena.

Read More…

#2

Cerritos College

Norwalk, CA

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Cerritos College is a great place for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. Cerritos College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Norwalk.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Cerritos College

#3

CET, San Jose

San Jose, CA

The excellent basic certificate programs at CET, San Jose helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in California. CET, San Jose is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Jose.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at CET, San Jose

#4

Riverside City College

Riverside, CA

Out of the 4 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Riverside City College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Riverside, Riverside City College is a public school with a large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Riverside City College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 342
Oregon 123
Nevada 74
Alaska 33
Hawaii 212

Culinary Arts is one of 4 different types of trade school programs to choose from.

Culinary Arts Concentrations

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

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 4 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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