Is a Culinary Arts and Related Services degree worth it?
Across 17 schools, graduates of Culinary Arts and Related Services earn a median $39,083 five years out on $27,000 of debt. Graduates most commonly work as Cooks, Restaurant (modeled from the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$39,083
Median debt
$27,000
Years to pay off
6.9
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
24%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+8.4%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
13.2%
$42,590 vs $36,970
Net price
$17,174/yr
Debt-test failures
86.7%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$16,037
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Culinary Arts and Related Services in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.