Best Chef programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods.
55 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,347 people a year. The job pays a median of $64,500 in California across about 31,670 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (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 California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 12.0500In California → | 1,712 | 72.9% | 47 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 2 | CIP 12.0503In California → | 272 | 11.6% | 3 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 3 | CIP 12.0504In California → | 259 | 11.0% | 24 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 4 | CIP 12.0501In California → | 104 | 4.4% | 2 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 55 schools in this state.
All 55 schools in California
Every school in California 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institute of Culinary Education | Pasadena | Private for-profit | 340 | 3 |
| Los Angeles Trade Technical College | Los Angeles | Public | 149 | 2 |
| Los Angeles Mission College | Sylmar | Public | 131 | 2 |
| Riverside City College | Riverside | Public | 102 | 1 |
| Orange Coast College | Costa Mesa | Public | 92 | 2 |
| Laney College | Oakland | Public | 89 | 2 |
| Southwestern College | Chula Vista | Public | 88 | 1 |
| Cerritos College | Norwalk | Public | 85 | 2 |
| Long Beach City College | Long Beach | Public | 79 | 1 |
| Cabrillo College | Aptos | Public | 76 | 1 |
| Cuesta College | San Luis Obispo | Public | 62 | 1 |
| Grossmont College | El Cajon | Public | 59 | 2 |
| Cypress College | Cypress | Public | 55 | 1 |
| Lemoore College | Lemoore | Public | 53 | 2 |
| Diablo Valley College | Pleasant Hill | Public | 52 | 2 |
What chefs and head cooks earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $62,470. California pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: California employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Chefs and Head Cooks page.
How to become a Chef
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience needed
- 5 years or more
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 5 majors mapped to Chefs and Head Cooks5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 12.0500Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General
- 12.0501Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef
- 12.0503Culinary Arts/Chef Training
- 12.0504Restaurant, Culinary, and Catering Management/Manager
- 12.0509Culinary Science/Culinology
Common questions
Answers for people weighing chefs and head cooks programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Chef?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General, which awarded 1,712 degrees in California in 2024-25, 72.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Chef?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 2,347 people a year in California.
How much do chefs and head cooks earn in California?+
The median is $64,500 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.2% above the U.S. median of $62,470. 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 chefs and head cooks growing?+
BLS projects a +7.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 24,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
55 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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.
What other job titles do chefs and head cooks work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Chef, Sous Chef, Kitchen Manager, Executive Chef (Ex Chef) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 35-1011.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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