Best Cook, Restaurant programs in Georgia, ranked by enrollment
Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants.
17 schools in Georgia run programs that feed this job, graduating 306 people a year. The job pays a median of $35,940 in Georgia across about 46,350 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Georgia that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in Georgia that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Georgia (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 Georgia page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Culinary Arts/Chef Trainingmain feeder CIP 12.0503In Georgia → | 262 | 85.6% | 17 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 2 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, Generalmain feeder CIP 12.0500In Georgia → | 44 | 14.4% | 3 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
Top 17 schools in Georgia
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 17 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helms College Augusta, GA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 93 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | $25,261 | 36% | $23,620 | — |
| 2 | Gwinnett Technical College Lawrenceville, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 32% | — | — |
| 3 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Valdosta, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 50% | — | — |
| 4 | Georgia Northwestern Technical College Rome, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 19 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 43% | — | — |
| 5 | North Georgia Technical College Clarkesville, GA Public · 2 feeder programs | 18 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General | $17,383 | 39% | — | — |
| 6 | South Georgia Technical College Americus, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 61% | — | — |
| 7 | Southern Crescent Technical College Griffin, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 58% | — | — |
| 8 | Columbus Technical College Columbus, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 27% | — | — |
| 9 | Albany Technical College Albany, GA Public · 2 feeder programs | 13 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General | — | 42% | — | — |
| 10 | West Georgia Technical College Waco, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 35% | — | — |
| 11 | Atlanta Technical College Atlanta, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 49% | — | — |
| 12 | Lanier Technical College Gainesville, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 34% | — | — |
| 13 | College of Coastal Georgia Brunswick, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 26% | — | 98% |
| 14 | Ogeechee Technical College Statesboro, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 43% | — | — |
| 15 | Savannah Technical College Savannah, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 42% | — | — |
| 16 | Augusta Technical College Augusta, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 31% | — | — |
| 17 | Athens Technical College Athens, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 51% | — | — |
All 17 schools in Georgia
Every school in Georgia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helms College | Augusta | Private not-for-profit | 93 | 2 |
| Gwinnett Technical College | Lawrenceville | Public | 26 | 1 |
| Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | Valdosta | Public | 26 | 1 |
| Georgia Northwestern Technical College | Rome | Public | 19 | 1 |
| North Georgia Technical College | Clarkesville | Public | 18 | 2 |
| South Georgia Technical College | Americus | Public | 15 | 1 |
| Southern Crescent Technical College | Griffin | Public | 15 | 1 |
| Columbus Technical College | Columbus | Public | 14 | 1 |
| Albany Technical College | Albany | Public | 13 | 2 |
| West Georgia Technical College | Waco | Public | 13 | 1 |
| Atlanta Technical College | Atlanta | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Lanier Technical College | Gainesville | Public | 11 | 1 |
| College of Coastal Georgia | Brunswick | Public | 10 | 1 |
| Ogeechee Technical College | Statesboro | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Savannah Technical College | Savannah | Public | 7 | 1 |
What cooks, restaurant earn in Georgia
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $37,390. Georgia pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Georgia
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 Cooks, Restaurant page.
How to become a Cook, Restaurant
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Georgia
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Cooks, Restaurant2 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
Common questions
Answers for people weighing cooks, restaurant programs in Georgia.
What degree do you need to become a Cook, Restaurant?+
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 262 degrees in Georgia in 2024-25, 85.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Cook, Restaurant?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 306 people a year in Georgia.
How much do cooks, restaurant earn in Georgia?+
The median is $35,940 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.9% below the U.S. median of $37,390. 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, restaurant growing?+
BLS projects a +14.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 250,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Georgia?+
17 institutions in Georgia reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 cooks, restaurant work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Cook, Line Cook, Grill Cook, Prep Cook (Preparation Cook) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 35-2014.
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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