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Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in California

59 Colleges
$23,704 Avg Salary
$9,715 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Culinary Arts 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 Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 59 schools in California to see which ones were the most popular programs for trade school students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Culinary Arts program at each school on the list.

Check out the culinary arts programs at these schools if you want to attend one of the most popular in California.

Our 2023 rankings named Institute of Culinary Education - Los Angeles the most popular school in California for culinary arts students. Institute of Culinary Education - Los Angeles is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Pasadena.

Full Culinary Arts at Institute of Culinary Education - Los Angeles Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Los Angeles Mission College is a great place for culinary arts students. Los Angeles Mission College is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Sylmar.

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#3

Cerritos College

Norwalk, CA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Cerritos College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in California list. Cerritos College is a large public school located in the suburb of Norwalk.

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#4

Orange Coast College

Costa Mesa, CA

The excellent programs at Orange Coast College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in California. Orange Coast College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Costa Mesa.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Orange Coast College

#5

Grossmont College

El Cajon, CA

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Grossmont College is a great place for culinary arts students. Located in the large suburb of El Cajon, Grossmont College is a public college with a large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Grossmont College

#6

Riverside City College

Riverside, CA

Riverside City College landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular culinary arts programs. Located in the 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

Los Angeles Trade Technical College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Trade Technical College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Los Angeles Trade Technical College

#8

Long Beach City College

Long Beach, CA

With a ranking of #8, Long Beach City College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for culinary arts students. Long Beach City College is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Long Beach City College

#9

Chaffey College

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Chaffey College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for culinary arts students. It came in at #9 on the list. Chaffey College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Rancho Cucamonga.

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#10

Columbia College

Sonora, CA

Columbia College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for culinary arts students. It came in at #10 on the list. Columbia Junior College is a small public school located in the rural area of Sonora.

Full Culinary Arts at Columbia College Report

Best Culinary Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Culinary Arts Colleges 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 25 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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