Career Training Path › Culinary & pastry schools › Texas
Culinary & pastry schools in Texas
Texas has 27 accredited campuses awarding culinary credentials. If you finish and work as a chef in Texas, expect to start around $31,380–$42,030 and reach a median of $56,080 with experience; the top quarter earn $71,870 or more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025, Texas). Graduates of these Texas programs — every graduate, whatever job they took — earned a median of $25,289 in their first year, against $24,208 nationally; that is the figure used to rank campuses below.
What chefs and head cooks earn in Texas
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; 13,270 employed in Texas. National median: $62,470.
Campuses in Texas, ranked by what their graduates earned
Cities: AlvinAustinBaytownBeaumontCorpus ChristiDallasDenisonEl PasoFort WorthGalvestonHoustonKilgoreLaredoLevellandMcAllenMcKinneyMount PleasantOdessaPasadenaPort ArthurSan AntonioTexarkanaTylerWaco
| Campus | City | Type | Grads / yr | Earnings, yr 1 | Program debt | Completion | Cost / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Community College District | Austin | Public | 28 | $28,696 | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Dallas College | Dallas | Public | 131 | $28,379 | $7,000 | not reported | not reported |
| Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts-Austin | Austin | for-profit | 243 | $27,275 | $9,500 | 70% | $25,014 |
| Culinary Institute Inc | Houston | for-profit | 139 | $26,556 | $12,250 | 100% | not reported |
| St Philip's College | San Antonio | Public | 183 | $25,289 | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Tarrant County College District | Fort Worth | Public | 65 | $24,417 | not reported | 34% | not reported |
| Texas State Technical College | Waco | Public | 37 | $23,577 | $9,500 | 46% | not reported |
| Houston Community College | Houston | Public | 100 | $20,663 | $20,327 | not reported | not reported |
| El Paso Community College | El Paso | Public | 33 | $20,595 | not reported | 24% | not reported |
| Lee College | Baytown | Public | 122 | not reported | not reported | 53% | not reported |
| The Culinary School of Fort Worth | Fort Worth | for-profit | 84 | not reported | $9,500 | 85% | $29,753 |
| South Texas College | McAllen | Public | 64 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Collin County Community College District | McKinney | Public | 53 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| South Plains College | Levelland | Public | 49 | not reported | not reported | 29% | not reported |
| San Jacinto Community College | Pasadena | Public | 46 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Lamar Institute of Technology | Beaumont | Public | 34 | not reported | not reported | 31% | not reported |
| Texarkana College | Texarkana | Public | 31 | not reported | not reported | 47% | not reported |
| Alvin Community College | Alvin | Public | 24 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Odessa College | Odessa | Public | 24 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Galveston College | Galveston | Public | 23 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Grayson College | Denison | Public | 21 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Kilgore College | Kilgore | Public | 16 | not reported | not reported | 39% | not reported |
| Laredo College | Laredo | Public | 14 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Lamar State College-Port Arthur | Port Arthur | Public | 13 | not reported | not reported | 45% | not reported |
| Tyler Junior College | Tyler | Public | 11 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Del Mar College | Corpus Christi | Public | 8 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Northeast Texas Community College | Mount Pleasant | Public | 4 | not reported | not reported | 56% | 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.