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Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region

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2023 Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region

29 Colleges
$24,361 Avg Salary
$20,631 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Culinary Arts School for You

Culinary Arts is the #11 most popular major in the country with 19,784 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which trade school program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

The Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region ranking is one of many tools that Trade College Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 29 schools in the Southwest Region to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for trade school students.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Culinary Arts Schools in the Southwest Region

Check out the culinary arts programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Schools

#1

Arizona Culinary Institute

Scottsdale, AZ

Our 2023 rankings named Arizona Culinary Institute the best school in the Southwest Region for culinary arts students. Located in the midsize city of Scottsdale, Arizona Culinary Institute is a private for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Arizona Culinary Institute

#2

Metro Technology Centers

Oklahoma City, OK

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Metro Technology Centers. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the city of Oklahoma City, Metro Technology Centers is a public college with a small student population.

Read More…

#3

El Centro College

Dallas, TX

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend El Centro College. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the city of Dallas, El Centro College is a public college with a very large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at El Centro College

The excellent programs at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts - Austin helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in the Southwest Region . Located in the large city of Austin, Escoffier - Austin is a private for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts - Austin

Out of the 29 schools in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Tulsa Technology Center landed the # 5 spot on the list. Tulsa Tech is a small public school located in the large city of Tulsa.

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#6

Culinary Institute Inc

Houston, TX

Culinary Institute Inc came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Culinary Institute LeNotre is a small private for-profit school located in the large city of Houston.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Culinary Institute Inc

#7

Lee College

Baytown, TX

Lee College landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best culinary arts programs. Located in the city of Baytown, Lee College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Lee College

The Art Institute of Dallas came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. The Art Institute of Dallas is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the large city of Dallas.

Full Culinary Arts at The Art Institute of Dallas Report

Austin Community College District did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for culinary arts students. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Austin, Austin Community College District is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Austin Community College District

Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. OSU Institute of Technology is a small public school located in the town of Okmulgee.

Read More…

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts colleges for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Arizona 376
Texas 1,430
Oklahoma 332
New Mexico 109

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 9,052
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef 4,322
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts 3,156
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager 1,380
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant 801
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services 411
Culinary Science/Culinology 196
Bartending/Bartender 183
Institutional Food Workers 157
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager 84
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter 35
Wine Steward/Sommelier 7

Related Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 107,895
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,354
Casino Operations and Services 192
Other Personal & Culinary Services 81

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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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