Find Trade Colleges

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

24 Colleges
$9,867 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$25,807 Avg Salary

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.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience.

The Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking is one of many tools that Trade College Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 24 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which programs offered the best value experiences for culinary arts students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Check out the culinary arts programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Chippewa Valley Technical College the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for culinary arts students. Located in the city of Eau Claire, CVTC is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at CVTC are $6,683 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, CVTC is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Madison Area Technical College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large city of Madison, Madison College is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Madison College are $6,769 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Madison College also is in the top 10% of our Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Full Culinary Arts at Madison Area Technical College Report

$6,603 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Waukesha County Technical College is a great value for culinary arts students. Located in the suburb of Pewaukee, WCTC is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at WCTC are $6,603 a year.

Read More…

$6,803 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 24 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Gateway Technical College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Gateway Technical College is a moderately-sized public school located in the midsize suburb of Kenosha.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Gateway Technical College are $6,803 per year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Gateway Technical College

#5

Oakland Community College

Bloomfield Hills, MI
$5,200 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at Oakland Community College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Oakland Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Oakland Community College are $5,200 per year.

Read More…

Fox Valley Technical College ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. FVTC is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Appleton.

FVTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,861 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, FVTC also is in the top 10% of our Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Fox Valley Technical College

#7

Schoolcraft College

Livonia, MI
$7,574 Average Tuition & Fees

Schoolcraft College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the small city of Livonia, Schoolcraft College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Schoolcraft College are $7,574 per year.

Read More…

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Cincinnati State is a medium-sized public school located in the large city of Cincinnati.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Cincinnati State are $9,090 a year.

Cincinnati State also claimed a spot on our Best Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

$6,908 Average Tuition & Fees

Milwaukee Area Technical College landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value culinary arts programs. MATC is a large public school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at MATC are $6,908 per year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Milwaukee Area Technical College

#10

Grand Rapids Community College

Grand Rapids, MI
$11,589 Average Tuition & Fees

Grand Rapids Community College came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Community College is a public college with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Grand Rapids Community College are $11,589 per year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Grand Rapids Community College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 413
Indiana 181
Wisconsin 333
Ohio 305
Illinois 668

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

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

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 24 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.

Featured Schools

Find Trade Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited trade schools across the U.S.