Fredericksburg, VA has seven baking schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. L'Academie de Cuisine, the highest ranked school in this group with a baking program, has a total student population of 113. It is the 813th highest ranked school in the USA and the 16th highest in the state of Maryland (#1 is Johns Hopkins University).
Baking students from Fredericksburg schools who go on to become bakers, chefs, pastry chefs, pastry artists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 140,510 people working as bakers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $25,350. Also, Food preparation and serving related employees make on average $20,880 per year and there are about 11,218,260 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan area alone, there are 170,800 employed food preparation and serving related employees earning an average salary of $23,420. Bakers in this area earn $30,040/yr and there are 2,070 employed.
Fredericksburg lies in Fredericksburg county, which is one of the 61 counties in Virginia. Overall, the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan area has 2,300,000 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $29/hr average worker wage, and a $60,090 average annual salary. Thus, about 1 out of every 1000 jobs in Fredericksburg are held by bakers, and 74/1000 are held by food preparation and serving related employees.
Of the 7 baking schools with a 100-mile radius of Fredericksburg, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, L'Academie de Cuisine comes out as the most expensive ($45,996/yr) for baking students, with J Sargeant Reynolds Community College as the lowest, reported at only $5,170/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Fredericksburg |
| Manassas | VA | - | 2 | 19.7716 | 11 | 31.0 miles |
| Fairfax | VA | - | 1 | 38.2292 | 131 | 38.5 miles |
| Annandale | VA | 60,438 | 3 | 18.9314 | 107 | 38.9 miles |
| Alexandria | VA | 147,786 | 6 | 19.205 | 130 | 41.0 miles |
| Falls Church | VA | - | 1 | 13.4471 | 18 | 43.0 miles |
| Reston | VA | 64,064 | 1 | 5.74171 | 25 | 45.1 miles |
| McLean | VA | - | 1 | 24.682 | 8 | 46.3 miles |
| Herndon | VA | - | 1 | 2.02111 | 10 | 46.3 miles |
| Sterling | VA | 69,591 | 2 | 35.6922 | 64 | 48.9 miles |
| Capitol Heights | MD | - | 1 | 32.1418 | 6 | 49.9 miles |
| Bethesda | MD | 59,221 | 1 | 7.29955 | 10 | 50.9 miles |
| Potomac | MD | 42,836 | 0 | - | 0 | 52.2 miles |
| Takoma Park | MD | - | 1 | 13.9013 | 66 | 52.7 miles |
| Highland Springs | VA | - | 1 | 3.25189 | 0 | 52.9 miles |
| Richmond | VA | 198,179 | 22 | 25.9212 | 685 | 53.5 miles |
| North Bethesda | MD | 48,357 | 0 | - | 0 | 54.2 miles |
| Adelphi | MD | - | 1 | 12.6602 | 95 | 55.1 miles |
| Leesburg | VA | 42,666 | 2 | 20.8639 | 37 | 55.4 miles |
| Lanham | MD | - | 1 | 24.0199 | 10 | 56.1 miles |
| Rockville | MD | 63,567 | 2 | 20.9627 | 85 | 56.3 miles |
| Aspen Hill | MD | 53,748 | 0 | - | 0 | 58.2 miles |
| Charlottesville | VA | 41,429 | 2 | 17.4578 | 40 | 58.9 miles |
| Gaithersburg | MD | 59,755 | 2 | 35.5602 | 8 | 59.3 miles |
| Bowie | MD | 52,071 | 1 | 51.6519 | 53 | 59.8 miles |
| Germantown | MD | 71,619 | 0 | - | 0 | 61.6 miles |
| Olney | MD | 41,213 | 1 | 14.4703 | 35 | 62.1 miles |
| Montgomery Village | MD | 43,313 | 0 | - | 0 | 62.4 miles |
| Annapolis | MD | - | 2 | 37.2711 | 28 | 70.1 miles |
| Severn | MD | 47,939 | 0 | - | 0 | 71.3 miles |
| Winchester | VA | - | 1 | 58.7782 | 81 | 71.9 miles |