Best degree programs for Cooks, Private Household, ranked by enrollment
3 college programs and 426 schools train Cooks, Private Household. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $47,940 median wage, 1,100 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
3 college programs at 426 schools train cooks, private household, graduating 14,701 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Culinary Arts/Chef Training. The job pays a median of $47,940 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About cooks, private household
Prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.
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.
3 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 12.0503 | 11,808 | 80.3% | 353 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 2 | CIP 12.0504 | 1,663 | 11.3% | 115 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 3 | CIP 12.0505 | 1,230 | 8.4% | 56 | $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 cooks, private household earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $37,440 | 140 | 2.12× | 25 | 1,526 |
| California | — | 110 | 0.83× | 27 | 550 |
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
- Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
- Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
- Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
- Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
- Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
- Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.
- Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
- Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.
Skills
- Critical Thinking3.3
- Monitoring3.0
- Active Listening3.0
- Speaking3.0
- Reading Comprehension3.0
- Writing2.9
- Active Learning2.9
- Learning Strategies2.8
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.6
- Food Production4.1
- Sales and Marketing3.7
- Administration and Management3.1
- Production and Processing3.0
- Mathematics3.0
Abilities
- Near Vision3.4
- Problem Sensitivity3.3
- Fluency of Ideas3.3
- Manual Dexterity3.1
- Deductive Reasoning3.1
- Finger Dexterity3.1
Core activities
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work4.0
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships3.9
- Getting Information3.9
- Thinking Creatively3.7
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems3.6
- Performing General Physical Activities3.6
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Cook, Private Household
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 3 majors mapped to Cooks, Private Household3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 12.0503Culinary Arts/Chef Training
- 12.0504Restaurant, Culinary, and Catering Management/Manager
- 12.0505Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant
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 Cook, Private Household?+
Postsecondary nondegree award 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 11,808 degrees in 2024-25, 80.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Cook, Private Household?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 14,701 people a year.
How much do cooks, private household earn?+
The median is $47,940 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $36,090 at the 10th percentile to $91,130 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 cooks, private household growing?+
BLS projects a +5.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 5,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
426 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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, private household work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Private Chef, Personal Chef, Personal Private Chef, Certified Personal Chef (CPC) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 35-2013.
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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