Best Cook programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment
Prepare and cook large quantities of food for institutions, such as schools, hospitals, or.
8 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 57 people a year. The job pays a median of $36,540 in Pennsylvania across about 24,490 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
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.
4 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.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 12.0505In Pennsylvania → | 36 | 63.2% | 3 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 2 | CIP 12.0500In Pennsylvania → | 8 | 14.0% | 3 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 3 | CIP 12.0508In Pennsylvania → | 7 | 12.3% | 2 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 4 | CIP 19.0505In Pennsylvania → | 6 | 10.5% | 1 | $32,286 | $25,275 |
Top 8 schools in Pennsylvania
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 8 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commonwealth Technical Institute Johnstown, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant | — | 86% | $14,343 | — |
| 2 | Jna Institute of Culinary Arts Philadelphia, PA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant | $18,774 | 60% | $18,245 | — |
| 3 | Luzerne County Community College Nanticoke, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 10 | Foodservice Systems Administration/Management | — | 23% | — | — |
| 4 | YTI Career Institute - York York, PA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General | $28,351 | 45% | $17,792 | — |
| 5 | Delaware County Community College Media, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Institutional Food Workers | — | 24% | — | — |
| 6 | Jefferson County DuBois Area Vocational Technical School Reynoldsville, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Institutional Food Workers | — | 30% | — | 80% |
| 7 | Lehigh Carbon Community College Schnecksville, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General | — | 30% | — | — |
| 8 | Pennsylvania College of Technology Williamsport, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General | $25,269 | 53% | — | — |
All 8 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Technical Institute | Johnstown | Private not-for-profit | 21 | 1 |
| Jna Institute of Culinary Arts | Philadelphia | Private for-profit | 11 | 1 |
| Luzerne County Community College | Nanticoke | Public | 10 | 2 |
| YTI Career Institute - York | York | Private for-profit | 6 | 1 |
| Delaware County Community College | Media | Public | 5 | 1 |
| Jefferson County DuBois Area Vocational Technical School | Reynoldsville | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Lehigh Carbon Community College | Schnecksville | Public | 1 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania College of Technology | Williamsport | Public | 1 | 1 |
What cooks, institution and cafeteria earn in Pennsylvania
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $37,450. Pennsylvania pays below the national figure.
Concentrated here: Pennsylvania employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in Pennsylvania
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, Institution and Cafeteria page.
How to become a Cook
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Short-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 Pennsylvania
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 4 majors mapped to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 12.0500Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General
- 12.0505Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant
- 12.0508Institutional Food Workers
- 19.0505Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
Common questions
Answers for people weighing cooks, institution and cafeteria programs in Pennsylvania.
What degree do you need to become a Cook?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant, which awarded 36 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 63.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Cook?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services, Foods. Together they graduate about 57 people a year in Pennsylvania.
How much do cooks, institution and cafeteria earn in Pennsylvania?+
The median is $36,540 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.4% below the U.S. median of $37,450. 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, institution and cafeteria growing?+
BLS projects a +2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 69,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Pennsylvania?+
8 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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, institution and cafeteria work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Cook, School Cook, Dietary Cook, Cafeteria Cook among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 35-2012.
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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