Tucson, AZ (population: 551,067) has one catering school within its city limits. Pima Community College has a total student population of 35,880. It is the 4974th highest ranked school in the USA and the 74th highest in the state of Arizona (#1 is Northern Arizona University).
Catering students from Tucson schools who go on to become caterers, professional caterers, food service managers, food service directors, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 11,218,260 people working as food preparation and serving related employees alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $20,880. Also, Meeting and convention planners make on average $48,060 per year and there are about 51,530 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Tucson area alone, there are 170 employed meeting and convention planners earning an average salary of $44,320. Food preparation and serving related employees in this area earn $20,680/yr and there are 33,790 employed.
Tucson lies in Pima county, which is one of the 15 counties in Arizona. Overall, the Tucson area has 362,000 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $20/hr average worker wage, and a $40,870 average annual salary. Thus, about 93 out of every 1000 jobs in Tucson are held by food preparation and serving related employees, and 0/1000 are held by meeting and convention planners.
After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Pima Community College ends up costing a student $3,259/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Tucson |
| Sierra Vista | AZ | 44,234 | 0 | - | 0 | 55.0 miles |
| Casa Grande | AZ | 47,388 | 1 | 16.7022 | 3 | 68.8 miles |
| Maricopa | AZ | 53,723 | 0 | - | 0 | 90.0 miles |
| Gilbert | AZ | 243,090 | 0 | - | 0 | 93.1 miles |
| Chandler | AZ | 258,122 | 5 | 22.1433 | 88 | 95.1 miles |
| Mesa | AZ | 474,115 | 6 | 20.6791 | 210 | 97.8 miles |