Albuquerque, NM (population: 535,923) has one catering school within its city limits. Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute has a total student population of 635. It is the 5734th highest ranked school in the USA and the 34th highest in the state of New Mexico (#1 is New Mexico State University-Main Campus).
Catering students from Albuquerque 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 Albuquerque area alone, there are 80 employed meeting and convention planners earning an average salary of $38,390. Food preparation and serving related employees in this area earn $18,960/yr and there are 33,620 employed.
Albuquerque lies in Bernalillo county, which is one of the 23 counties in New Mexico. Overall, the Albuquerque area has 381,870 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $19.31/hr average worker wage, and a $40,170 average annual salary. Thus, about 88.045 out of every 1000 jobs in Albuquerque are held by food preparation and serving related employees, and 0.214/1000 are held by meeting and convention planners.
After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute ends up costing a student $4,195/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Albuquerque |
| Albuequerque | NM | - | 1 | 4.18669 | 13 | 3.0 miles |
| Rio Rancho | NM | 85,837 | 1 | 10.6625 | 12 | 10.6 miles |
| Santa Fe | NM | 74,019 | 6 | 20.0822 | 127 | 54.1 miles |
| Grants | NM | - | 1 | 9.85236 | 40 | 69.7 miles |