Ranked #23 in popularity, culinary arts is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 79 associate degrees in culinary arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Culinary Arts School for Your Associate Degree
The culinary arts associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to culinary arts students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of culinary arts students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt culinary arts students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized culinary arts related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree.
The culinary arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in Iowa.
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Des Moines Area Community College is a great option for students interested in an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a very large student population.
Associate recipients from the culinary arts degree program at Des Moines Area Community College get $2,791 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Kirkwood Community College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the culinary arts program state that they receive average early career earnings of $21,391.
It's difficult to beat Western Iowa Tech Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in culinary arts. Located in the small city of Sioux City, Western Iowa Tech Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the culinary arts program make around $24,061 for their early career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The culinary arts associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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