Nashville, TN (population: 605,197) has ninety-eight catering schools within a 500-mile radius of its city center. Poplar Bluff School District Practical Nurse Program, the highest ranked school in this group with a catering program, has a total student population of 70. It is the 766th highest ranked school in the USA and the 18th highest in the state of Missouri (#1 is Webster University).
Catering students from Nashville 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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin area alone, there are 190 employed meeting and convention planners earning an average salary of $47,830. Food preparation and serving related employees in this area earn $19,820/yr and there are 63,260 employed.
Nashville lies in Davidson county, which is one of the 26 counties in Tennessee. Overall, the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin area has 719,830 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $19.13/hr average worker wage, and a $39,790 average annual salary. Thus, about 87.887 out of every 1000 jobs in Nashville are held by food preparation and serving related employees, and 0.264/1000 are held by meeting and convention planners.
Of the 98 catering schools with a 500-mile radius of Nashville, only 8 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh-Online Division comes out as the most expensive ($31,682/yr) for catering students, with Gateway Technical College as the lowest, reported at only $220/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Nashville |
| Franklin | TN | 61,515 | 6 | 35.3023 | 121 | 16.9 miles |
| Gallatin | TN | - | 1 | 14.7314 | 31 | 24.0 miles |
| Lebanon | TN | - | 6 | 33.1353 | 162 | 27.4 miles |
| Murfreesboro | TN | 109,230 | 4 | 32.6865 | 176 | 31.1 miles |
| Dickson | TN | - | 1 | 26.7533 | 18 | 34.6 miles |
| Clarksville | TN | 121,429 | 6 | 21.4206 | 150 | 41.7 miles |
| Shelbyville | TN | - | 2 | 24.186 | 25 | 50.8 miles |
| Bowling Green | KY | 56,941 | 5 | 29.5084 | 365 | 58.5 miles |
| Tullahoma | TN | - | 1 | 18.8406 | 13 | 64.4 miles |
| Athens | AL | - | 7 | 24.5606 | 224 | 95.2 miles |