Texas·Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations·SOC 35-2019

Best Cook, All Other programs in Texas, ranked by enrollment

All cooks not listed.

31 schools in Texas run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,502 people a year. The job pays a median of $32,150 in Texas across about 4,650 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAssistant CookFalafel Cart CookFraternity House Cook
Graduates / yr
1,502
in Texas
Median pay · Texas
$32,150
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
4,650
people employed
Schools
31
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
40%
across those schools
Median net price
$24,123
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Texas that lead to this job

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

4 programs in Texas that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Texas (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 Texas page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 12.0503In Texas
1,316
87.6%
26$25,404$13,000
2
CIP 12.0500In Texas
173
11.5%
4$25,404$13,000
3
CIP 12.0505In Texas
12
0.8%
1$25,404$13,000
4
CIP 12.0509In Texas
1
0.1%
1$25,404$13,000

Top 25 schools in Texas

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 9 of the 31 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Dallas College
Dallas, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
141Culinary Arts/Chef Training$30,48432%
2Lee College
Baytown, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
124Culinary Arts/Chef Training53%
3Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts - Austin
Austin, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
118Culinary Arts/Chef Training$26,61370%$21,708
4St Philip's College
San Antonio, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
113Culinary Arts/Chef Training28%
5Culinary Institute Inc
Houston, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
104Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General$28,089100%$27,563
6Lamar State College - Port Arthur
Port Arthur, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
81Culinary Arts/Chef Training45%
7The Culinary School of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
77Culinary Arts/Chef Training$21,60885%$24,12378%
8Tarrant County College District
Fort Worth, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
67Culinary Arts/Chef Training34%
9Texarkana College
Texarkana, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
59Culinary Arts/Chef Training$19,28447%
10South Texas College
McAllen, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
56Culinary Arts/Chef Training$24,08427%
11Tyler Junior College
Tyler, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
48Culinary Arts/Chef Training27%
12Odessa College
Odessa, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
47Culinary Arts/Chef Training37%
13Texas State Technical College
Waco, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
46Culinary Arts/Chef Training$26,92746%
14South Plains College
Levelland, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
45Culinary Arts/Chef Training29%
15Alvin Community College
Alvin, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
39Culinary Arts/Chef Training24%
16Collin County Community College District
McKinney, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
39Culinary Arts/Chef Training20%
17Southwest University at El Paso
El Paso, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
36Culinary Arts/Chef Training59%$19,240
18Grayson College
Denison, TX Public · 2 feeder programs
30Culinary Arts/Chef Training40%
19San Jacinto Community College
Pasadena, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
30Culinary Arts/Chef Training30%
20Houston City College
Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
29Culinary Arts/Chef Training$26,41917%
21El Paso Community College
El Paso, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
28Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General24%
22Remington College - Dallas Campus
Dallas, TX Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
28Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General$25,389$29,146
23Galveston College
Galveston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
20Culinary Arts/Chef Training33%
24Laredo College
Laredo, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
20Culinary Arts/Chef Training30%
25Kilgore College
Kilgore, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
18Culinary Arts/Chef Training39%

All 31 schools in Texas

Every school in Texas 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 Texas that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Dallas CollegeDallasPublic1411
Lee CollegeBaytownPublic1241
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts - AustinAustinPrivate for-profit1181
St Philip's CollegeSan AntonioPublic1131
Culinary Institute IncHoustonPrivate for-profit1041
Lamar State College - Port ArthurPort ArthurPublic811
The Culinary School of Fort WorthFort WorthPrivate for-profit771
Tarrant County College DistrictFort WorthPublic671
Texarkana CollegeTexarkanaPublic591
South Texas CollegeMcAllenPublic561
Tyler Junior CollegeTylerPublic481
Odessa CollegeOdessaPublic471
Texas State Technical CollegeWacoPublic461
South Plains CollegeLevellandPublic451
Alvin Community CollegeAlvinPublic391

What cooks, all other earn in Texas

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

Median annual in Texas
$32,150
Mean annual
$33,130
Jobs in state
4,650
What the range looks like
10th pct$25,600Median$32,15090th pct$41,570
Versus the national median
-14.7%

U.S. median $37,690. Texas pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
2.65×

Concentrated here: Texas employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Texas

Midland, TX
$40,040median
100 jobs
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
$35,070median
420 jobs
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
$35,500median
1,810 jobs
Killeen-Temple, TX
$25,940median
40 jobs
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
$33,000median
290 jobs
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
$27,900median
860 jobs
Waco, TX
$27,710median
60 jobs
College Station-Bryan, TX
$25,700median
50 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+5.5%
Faster than average
Openings per year
3,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,300
24,000 → 25,300
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 Cooks, All Other page.

How to become a Cook, All Other

Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Texas

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 4 majors mapped to Cooks, All Other4 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
  • 12.0505Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant
  • 12.0509Culinary Science/Culinology

Common questions

Answers for people weighing cooks, all other programs in Texas.

What degree do you need to become a Cook, All Other?+

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 1,316 degrees in Texas in 2024-25, 87.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Cook, All Other?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services. Together they graduate about 1,502 people a year in Texas.

How much do cooks, all other earn in Texas?+

The median is $32,150 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 14.7% below the U.S. median of $37,690. 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, all other growing?+

BLS projects a +5.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 3,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Texas?+

31 institutions in Texas 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.

Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+

BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'Moderate-term on-the-job training' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.

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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