Best Cook, Restaurant programs in North Carolina, ranked by enrollment
Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants.
27 schools in North Carolina run programs that feed this job, graduating 642 people a year. The job pays a median of $35,400 in North Carolina across about 50,150 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in North Carolina that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in North Carolina that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in North Carolina (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 North Carolina page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Culinary Arts/Chef Trainingmain feeder CIP 12.0503In North Carolina → | 642 | 100.0% | 27 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
Top 25 schools in North Carolina
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 27 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Piedmont Community College Charlotte, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 125 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | $27,127 | 31% | — | — |
| 2 | Johnson & Wales University - Charlotte Charlotte, NC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 105 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | $27,514 | 49% | $29,446 | 80% |
| 3 | Asheville - Buncombe Technical Community College Asheville, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 58 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | $32,602 | 40% | — | — |
| 4 | Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 52 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 33% | — | — |
| 5 | Guilford Technical Community College Jamestown, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 40 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | $14,813 | 31% | — | — |
| 6 | Cape Fear Community College Wilmington, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 38 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 34% | — | — |
| 7 | Fayetteville Technical Community College Fayetteville, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 38 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 24% | — | — |
| 8 | Wilkes Community College Wilkesboro, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 55% | — | — |
| 9 | Carteret Community College Morehead City, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 19 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 49% | — | — |
| 10 | Mitchell Community College Statesville, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 28% | — | — |
| 11 | Central Carolina Community College Sanford, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 43% | — | — |
| 12 | College of the Albemarle Elizabeth City, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 35% | — | — |
| 13 | Coastal Carolina Community College Jacksonville, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 49% | — | — |
| 14 | Lenoir Community College Kinston, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 36% | — | — |
| 15 | Durham Technical Community College Durham, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 45% | — | — |
| 16 | Nash Community College Rocky Mount, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 41% | — | — |
| 17 | Vance - Granville Community College Henderson, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 53% | — | — |
| 18 | Livingstone College Salisbury, NC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 28% | $15,903 | 59% |
| 19 | Sandhills Community College Pinehurst, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 53% | — | — |
| 20 | Johnston Community College Smithfield, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 37% | — | — |
| 21 | Robeson Community College Lumberton, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 33% | — | — |
| 22 | Southwestern Community College Sylva, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 53% | — | — |
| 23 | Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute Hudson, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 45% | — | — |
| 24 | Montgomery Community College Troy, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 84% | — | — |
| 25 | Wilson Community College Wilson, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Culinary Arts/Chef Training | — | 27% | — | — |
All 27 schools in North Carolina
Every school in North Carolina 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Piedmont Community College | Charlotte | Public | 125 | 1 |
| Johnson & Wales University - Charlotte | Charlotte | Private not-for-profit | 105 | 1 |
| Asheville - Buncombe Technical Community College | Asheville | Public | 58 | 1 |
| Wake Technical Community College | Raleigh | Public | 52 | 1 |
| Guilford Technical Community College | Jamestown | Public | 40 | 1 |
| Cape Fear Community College | Wilmington | Public | 38 | 1 |
| Fayetteville Technical Community College | Fayetteville | Public | 38 | 1 |
| Wilkes Community College | Wilkesboro | Public | 25 | 1 |
| Carteret Community College | Morehead City | Public | 19 | 1 |
| Mitchell Community College | Statesville | Public | 16 | 1 |
| Central Carolina Community College | Sanford | Public | 15 | 1 |
| College of the Albemarle | Elizabeth City | Public | 14 | 1 |
| Coastal Carolina Community College | Jacksonville | Public | 13 | 1 |
| Lenoir Community College | Kinston | Public | 11 | 1 |
| Durham Technical Community College | Durham | Public | 10 | 1 |
What cooks, restaurant earn in North Carolina
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $37,390. North Carolina pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in North Carolina
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 North Carolina
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 North Carolina.
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 642 degrees in North Carolina in 2024-25, 100.0% 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 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 642 people a year in North Carolina.
How much do cooks, restaurant earn in North Carolina?+
The median is $35,400 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 5.3% 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 North Carolina?+
27 institutions in North Carolina 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 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
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card