Arizona·Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations·SOC 35-2019

Best Cook, All Other programs in Arizona, ranked by enrollment

All cooks not listed.

9 schools in Arizona run programs that feed this job, graduating 378 people a year. The job pays a median of $41,740 in Arizona across about 550 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAssistant CookFalafel Cart CookFraternity House Cook
Graduates / yr
378
in Arizona
Median pay · Arizona
$41,740
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
550
people employed
Schools
9
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
35%
across those schools
Median net price
$39,067
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arizona that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Arizona that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arizona (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arizona page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 12.0503In Arizona
254
67.2%
5$25,404$13,000
2
CIP 12.0500In Arizona
119
31.5%
5$25,404$13,000
3
CIP 12.0505In Arizona
5
1.3%
1$25,404$13,000

Top 9 schools in Arizona

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 9 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Arizona Culinary Institute
Scottsdale, AZ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
133Culinary Arts/Chef Training$29,22391%$39,067
2Estrella Mountain Community College
Avondale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
73Culinary Arts/Chef Training32%
3Yavapai College
Prescott, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
62Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General34%
4Pima Community College
Tucson, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
29Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General28%
5Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
23Culinary Arts/Chef Training17%
6Arizona Western College
Yuma, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
20Culinary Arts/Chef Training20%
7Central Arizona College
Coolidge, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
15Culinary Arts/Chef Training27%
8Cochise County Community College District
Sierra Vista, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
13Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General30%
9Mohave Community College
Kingman, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
10Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General38%

All 9 schools in Arizona

Every school in Arizona with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arizona that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Arizona Culinary InstituteScottsdalePrivate for-profit1331
Estrella Mountain Community CollegeAvondalePublic731
Yavapai CollegePrescottPublic621
Pima Community CollegeTucsonPublic291
Scottsdale Community CollegeScottsdalePublic232
Arizona Western CollegeYumaPublic201
Central Arizona CollegeCoolidgePublic152
Cochise County Community College DistrictSierra VistaPublic131
Mohave Community CollegeKingmanPublic101

What cooks, all other earn in Arizona

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arizona
$41,740
Mean annual
$44,500
Jobs in state
550
What the range looks like
10th pct$32,900Median$41,74090th pct$56,830
Versus the national median
+10.7%

U.S. median $37,690. Arizona pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.36×

Concentrated here: Arizona employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
$46,960median
400 jobs
Tucson, AZ
$38,800median
60 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+5.5%
Faster than average
Openings per year
3,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,300
24,000 → 25,300
Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Cooks, All Other page.

How to become a Cook, All Other

Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arizona

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 4 majors mapped to Cooks, All Other4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 12.0500Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General
  • 12.0503Culinary Arts/Chef Training
  • 12.0505Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant
  • 12.0509Culinary Science/Culinology

Common questions

Answers for people weighing cooks, all other programs in Arizona.

What degree do you need to become a Cook, All Other?+

No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Culinary Arts/Chef Training, which awarded 254 degrees in Arizona in 2024-25, 67.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Cook, All Other?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 378 people a year in Arizona.

How much do cooks, all other earn in Arizona?+

The median is $41,740 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.7% above the U.S. median of $37,690. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for cooks, all other growing?+

BLS projects a +5.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 3,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arizona?+

9 institutions in Arizona reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+

BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'Moderate-term on-the-job training' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.

Programs in ArizonaCulinary Arts/Chef Training

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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