Michigan·Production Occupations·SOC 51-3011

Best Baker programs in Michigan, ranked by enrollment

Mix and bake ingredients to produce breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, or other baked.

10 schools in Michigan run programs that feed this job, graduating 121 people a year. The job pays a median of $35,830 in Michigan across about 7,290 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledBakerMixerDough MixerPastry ChefPannerScalerSpongerPie Baker
Graduates / yr
121
in Michigan
Median pay · Michigan
$35,830
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
7,290
people employed
Schools
10
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
24%
across those schools
Median net price
$15,493
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Michigan that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Michigan that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Michigan (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 Michigan page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 12.0501In Michigan
121
100.0%
10$25,404$13,000

Top 10 schools in Michigan

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 6 of the 10 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Baker College
Owosso, MI Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
25Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$25,20436%$15,49382%
2Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
25Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$27,63021%
3Schoolcraft Community College District
Livonia, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
21Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$27,24818%
4Macomb Community College
Warren, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
17Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$20,70118%
5Mott Community College
Flint, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
14Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef32%
6Henry Ford College
Dearborn, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
6Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef17%
7Northwestern Michigan College
Traverse City, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
6Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$26,58625%
8Kalamazoo Valley Community College
Kalamazoo, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
3Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$26,84328%
9Oakland Community College
Auburn Hills, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
3Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef21%
10Lake Michigan College
Benton Harbor, MI Public · 1 feeder programs
1Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef22%

All 10 schools in Michigan

Every school in Michigan 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 Michigan that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Baker CollegeOwossoPrivate not-for-profit251
Grand Rapids Community CollegeGrand RapidsPublic251
Schoolcraft Community College DistrictLivoniaPublic211
Macomb Community CollegeWarrenPublic171
Mott Community CollegeFlintPublic141
Henry Ford CollegeDearbornPublic61
Northwestern Michigan CollegeTraverse CityPublic61
Kalamazoo Valley Community CollegeKalamazooPublic31
Oakland Community CollegeAuburn HillsPublic31
Lake Michigan CollegeBenton HarborPublic11

What bakers earn in Michigan

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

Median annual in Michigan
$35,830
Mean annual
$36,950
Jobs in state
7,290
What the range looks like
10th pct$28,860Median$35,83090th pct$47,130
Versus the national median
-3.6%

U.S. median $37,160. Michigan pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.09×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Michigan

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
$36,970median
3,070 jobs
Traverse City, MI
$36,090median
270 jobs
Ann Arbor, MI
$35,770median
330 jobs
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
$36,000median
940 jobs
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI
$35,430median
210 jobs
Jackson, MI
$36,150median
140 jobs
Battle Creek, MI
$36,830median
100 jobs
Flint, MI
$35,950median
200 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+5.6%
Faster than average
Openings per year
39,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
14,000
249,100 → 263,200
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 Bakers page.

How to become a Baker

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
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

MonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingActive LearningSpeakingReading Comprehension

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Michigan

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Bakers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 12.0501Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef

Common questions

Answers for people weighing bakers programs in Michigan.

What degree do you need to become a Baker?+

No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef, which awarded 121 degrees in Michigan in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Baker?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 121 people a year in Michigan.

How much do bakers earn in Michigan?+

The median is $35,830 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.6% below the U.S. median of $37,160. 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 bakers growing?+

BLS projects a +5.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 39,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

10 institutions in Michigan reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 bakers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Baker, Mixer, Dough Mixer, Pastry Chef among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-3011.

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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