Pennsylvania·Production Occupations·SOC 51-3011

Best Baker programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

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

11 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 115 people a year. The job pays a median of $36,360 in Pennsylvania across about 10,380 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledBakerMixerDough MixerPastry ChefPannerScalerSpongerPie Baker
Graduates / yr
115
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$36,360
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
10,380
people employed
Schools
11
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
37%
across those schools
Median net price
$25,320
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (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 Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1115
100.0%
11$25,404$13,000

Top 11 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 11 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
17Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$29,15556%91%
2Northampton County Area Community College
Bethlehem, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
17Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef24%
3Walnut Hill College
Philadelphia, PA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
17Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$25,89358%$33,54143%
4Montgomery County Community College
Blue Bell, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
15Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$28,88528%
5Pennsylvania College of Technology
Williamsport, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
14Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$25,26953%
6Westmoreland County Community College
Youngwood, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
13Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef31%
7Harrisburg Area Community College
Harrisburg, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
7Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef21%
8YTI Career Institute - York
York, PA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef$28,35145%$17,792
9Bucks County Community College
Newtown, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
5Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef32%
10Lackawanna College
Scranton, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef37%$25,320
11Luzerne County Community College
Nanticoke, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
2Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef23%

All 11 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndianaPublic171
Northampton County Area Community CollegeBethlehemPublic171
Walnut Hill CollegePhiladelphiaPrivate for-profit171
Montgomery County Community CollegeBlue BellPublic151
Pennsylvania College of TechnologyWilliamsportPublic141
Westmoreland County Community CollegeYoungwoodPublic131
Harrisburg Area Community CollegeHarrisburgPublic71
YTI Career Institute - YorkYorkPrivate for-profit61
Bucks County Community CollegeNewtownPublic51
Lackawanna CollegeScrantonPrivate not-for-profit21
Luzerne County Community CollegeNanticokePublic21

What bakers earn in Pennsylvania

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

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$36,360
Mean annual
$37,090
Jobs in state
10,380
What the range looks like
10th pct$25,430Median$36,36090th pct$50,470
Versus the national median
-2.2%

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

Job concentration
1.13×

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

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

Chambersburg, PA
$48,640median
200 jobs
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
$37,400median
620 jobs
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
$37,770median
4,410 jobs
Lancaster, PA
$36,160median
910 jobs
York-Hanover, PA
$35,790median
470 jobs
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
$35,810median
450 jobs
Lebanon, PA
$36,380median
180 jobs
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA
$36,260median
640 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 Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania.

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 115 degrees in Pennsylvania 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 115 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do bakers earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $36,360 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.2% 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 Pennsylvania?+

11 institutions in Pennsylvania 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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