Career Training Path › Culinary & pastry schools › South Dakota
Culinary & pastry schools in South Dakota
South Dakota has 2 accredited campuses awarding culinary credentials. If you finish and work as a chef in South Dakota, expect to start around $37,450–$39,650 and reach a median of $48,470 with experience; the top quarter earn $51,870 or more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025, South Dakota). Graduates of these South Dakota programs — every graduate, whatever job they took — earned a median of not reported in their first year, against $24,208 nationally; that is the figure used to rank campuses below.
What chefs and head cooks earn in South Dakota
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; 300 employed in South Dakota. National median: $62,470.
Campuses in South Dakota, ranked by what their graduates earned
| Campus | City | Type | Grads / yr | Earnings, yr 1 | Program debt | Completion | Cost / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Technical College | Mitchell | Public | 5 | not reported | not reported | 76% | not reported |
| Sisseton Wahpeton College | Sisseton | Public | 1 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
Earnings are median wages and self-employment income reported to the IRS (W-2 and Schedule SE) for graduates who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled, measured in the calendar year after finishing. They are pay only: health insurance, retirement contributions and other benefits are not included.
Ranked by median earnings of this program's graduates one year after completion (College Scorecard field-of-study, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2022-23 Completions survey; College Scorecard June 2026; Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP), September 2026); campuses without a reported figure follow, by credentials awarded. "Program debt" is the median federal loan debt for graduates of this program at this campus. Completion is the campus-wide 150%-of-time rate. "Not reported" means the federal file suppresses the value for privacy.