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Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

3 Colleges
$1,341 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$25,389 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree 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.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Trade College Search has created its Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 3 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value associate degree programs for culinary arts students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Culinary Arts

#1

Cerritos College

Norwalk, CA

Our 2023 rankings named Cerritos College the best value school in California for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Cerritos College is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Norwalk.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cerritos College are $1,364 a year.

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#2

Riverside City College

Riverside, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Riverside City College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Riverside, Riverside City College is a public college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Riverside City College are $1,420 a year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Riverside City College

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The excellent associate degree programs at Los Angeles Trade Technical College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value culinary arts schools in California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Trade Technical College is a public school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Los Angeles Trade Technical College are $1,238 a year.

Full Culinary Arts at Los Angeles Trade Technical College Report

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Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value 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 3 schools only.

  • 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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