Career Training Path › Culinary & pastry schools › Missouri
Culinary & pastry schools in Missouri
Missouri has 7 accredited campuses awarding culinary credentials. If you finish and work as a chef in Missouri, expect to start around $39,650–$49,550 and reach a median of $64,480 with experience; the top quarter earn $76,520 or more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025, Missouri). Graduates of these Missouri programs — every graduate, whatever job they took — earned a median of $22,979 in their first year, against $24,208 nationally; that is the figure used to rank campuses below.
What chefs and head cooks earn in Missouri
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; 1,750 employed in Missouri. National median: $62,470.
Campuses in Missouri, ranked by what their graduates earned
Cities: BridgetonCape GirardeauCottlevilleHillsboroSpringfieldUnionWest Plains
| Campus | City | Type | Grads / yr | Earnings, yr 1 | Program debt | Completion | Cost / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ozarks Technical Community College | Springfield | Public | 35 | $23,062 | $8,933 | not reported | not reported |
| Saint Louis Community College | Bridgeton | Public | 51 | $22,897 | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| East Central College | Union | Public | 21 | not reported | not reported | 48% | not reported |
| Jefferson College | Hillsboro | Public | 7 | not reported | not reported | 38% | not reported |
| Missouri State University-West Plains | West Plains | Public | 3 | not reported | not reported | 41% | not reported |
| Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center | Cape Girardeau | Public | 1 | not reported | not reported | 71% | $24,038 |
| St Charles Community College | Cottleville | Public | 1 | not reported | not reported | 25% | 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.