Best degree programs for Bakers, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 193 schools train Bakers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $37,160 median wage, 236,200 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 193 schools train bakers, graduating 5,575 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef. The job pays a median of $37,160 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About bakers
Mix and bake ingredients to produce breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, or other baked goods.
A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery.
Read more on Wikipedia →Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 12.0501 | 5,575 | 100.0% | 193 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What bakers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coloradolimited | $40,650 | 4,680 | 1.07× | 2 | 1,167 |
| New York | $38,660 | 15,130 | 1.03× | 9 | 566 |
| Texas | $33,790 | 16,710 | 0.78× | 12 | 497 |
| Florida | $35,870 | 12,320 | 0.82× | 18 | 445 |
| North Carolina | $34,510 | 9,320 | 1.24× | 10 | 272 |
| Illinois | $37,030 | 12,420 | 1.34× | 13 | 212 |
| Rhode Islandlimited | $38,140 | 560 | 0.74× | 1 | 153 |
| Wisconsin | $37,310 | 4,930 | 1.10× | 7 | 122 |
| Michigan | $35,830 | 7,290 | 1.09× | 10 | 121 |
| Pennsylvania | $36,360 | 10,380 | 1.13× | 11 | 115 |
| Washington | $46,140 | 6,270 | 1.16× | 10 | 106 |
| Californialimited | $43,120 | 30,020 | 1.08× | 2 | 104 |
| Arkansaslimited | $30,380 | 2,400 | 1.21× | 2 | 101 |
| Georgia | $35,010 | 7,350 | 0.99× | 8 | 84 |
| Indianalimited | $36,150 | 3,600 | 0.74× | 1 | 71 |
| Ohio | $34,560 | 8,890 | 1.05× | 6 | 65 |
| New Jersey | $36,960 | 8,110 | 1.25× | 8 | 51 |
| Oregonmoderate | $39,500 | 4,160 | 1.39× | 3 | 51 |
| Louisianamoderate | $28,020 | 2,450 | 0.83× | 3 | 50 |
| New Mexicomoderate | $34,850 | 1,540 | 1.16× | 4 | 50 |
| Nevadalimited | $39,540 | 2,040 | 0.87× | 1 | 44 |
| South Carolinamoderate | $35,460 | 2,940 | 0.84× | 3 | 43 |
| Minnesotamoderate | $40,210 | 2,660 | 0.59× | 3 | 41 |
| Mississippilimited | $28,920 | 1,300 | 0.73× | 2 | 37 |
| Arizona | $37,700 | 4,000 | 0.81× | 5 | 33 |
| Virginialimited | $34,430 | 7,820 | 1.25× | 1 | 32 |
| Connecticutlimited | $36,460 | 3,670 | 1.43× | 2 | 29 |
| Utahlimited | $36,670 | 3,190 | 1.21× | 1 | 26 |
| Idaholimited | $34,060 | 2,230 | 1.71× | 1 | 22 |
| Kentuckylimited | $33,890 | 1,630 | 0.54× | 1 | 21 |
| Marylandmoderate | $37,040 | 2,740 | 0.65× | 3 | 21 |
| Missourilimited | $35,130 | 4,190 | 0.94× | 1 | 20 |
| West Virginialimited | $28,480 | 750 | 0.71× | 2 | 20 |
| Massachusettsmoderate | $38,130 | 6,070 | 1.10× | 4 | 18 |
| Nebraskalimited | $35,280 | 1,030 | 0.66× | 1 | 17 |
| Kansaslimited | $34,300 | 1,370 | 0.63× | 2 | 15 |
| Delawarelimited | $36,730 | 290 | 0.39× | 1 | 10 |
| New Hampshirelimited | $39,500 | 880 | 0.85× | 2 | 7 |
| Alaskalimited | $39,710 | 430 | 0.88× | 1 | 5 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Check products for quality, and identify damaged or expired goods.
- Set oven temperatures, and place items into hot ovens for baking.
- Combine measured ingredients in bowls of mixing, blending, or cooking machinery.
- Place dough in pans, molds, or on sheets, and bake in production ovens or on grills.
- Set time and speed controls for mixing machines, blending machines, or steam kettles so that ingredients will be mixed or cooked according to instructions.
- Measure or weigh flour or other ingredients to prepare batters, doughs, fillings, or icings, using scales or graduated containers.
- Observe color of products being baked, and adjust oven temperatures, humidity, or conveyor speeds accordingly.
- Check the quality of raw materials to ensure that standards and specifications are met.
Skills
- Monitoring3.3
- Active Listening3.0
- Critical Thinking3.0
- Active Learning3.0
- Speaking3.0
- Reading Comprehension2.9
- Learning Strategies2.3
- Writing2.3
Knowledge areas
- Production and Processing3.8
- Customer and Personal Service3.8
- Food Production3.4
- English Language3.3
- Mathematics3.1
- Administration and Management3.0
Abilities
- Near Vision3.8
- Oral Comprehension3.3
- Speech Recognition3.1
- Oral Expression3.1
- Problem Sensitivity3.1
- Visual Color Discrimination3.1
Core activities
- Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings4.0
- Getting Information3.9
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials3.8
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events3.6
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work3.4
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates3.3
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
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.
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
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
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 5,575 degrees 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 5,575 people a year.
How much do bakers earn?+
The median is $37,160 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $28,120 at the 10th percentile to $49,020 at the 90th. 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?+
193 institutions 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 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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