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Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Plains States Region

46 Colleges
$25,806 Avg Salary
$9,445 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Culinary Arts School for You

Culinary Arts is the #11 most popular major in the country with 22,075 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 46 schools in the Plains States Region to see which programs were the most popular 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 the Plains States Region .

Our analysis found Des Moines Area Community College to be the most popular school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a degree in the Plains States Region . Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a very large student population.

Full Culinary Arts at Des Moines Area Community College Report

The excellent programs at Western Iowa Tech Community College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in the Plains States Region . Western Iowa Tech Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Sioux City.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Western Iowa Tech Community College

Out of the 46 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Southeast Community College Area landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Lincoln, Southeast Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Southeast Community College Area

#4

Central Community College

Grand Island, NE

The excellent programs at Central Community College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in the Plains States Region . Central Community College is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Grand Island.

Full Culinary Arts at Central Community College Report

#4

Kirkwood Community College

Cedar Rapids, IA

The excellent programs at Kirkwood Community College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in the Plains States Region . Located in the city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public school with a large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Kirkwood Community College

#6

Hennepin Technical College

Brooklyn Park, MN

With a ranking of #6, Hennepin Technical College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for culinary arts students. Hennepin Technical College is a small public school located in the suburb of Brooklyn Park.

Full Culinary Arts at Hennepin Technical College Report

#6

Saint Paul College

Saint Paul, MN

Saint Paul College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for culinary arts students. It came in at #6 on the list. Saint Paul College is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Saint Paul.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Saint Paul College

Ozarks Technical Community College ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Culinary Arts Trade Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, OTC is a public college with a large student population.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Ozarks Technical Community College

Metropolitan Community 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. Located in the city of Omaha, MCC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College Report

Saint Louis Community College landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular culinary arts programs. Saint Louis Community College is a large public school located in the suburb of Bridgeton.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Saint Louis Community College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 96
Missouri 87
Minnesota 125
South Dakota 3
Iowa 200
North Dakota 4
Nebraska 130

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 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

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

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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