Chicago, IL (population: 2,878,948) has six cooking schools within its city limits. Robert Morris College, the highest ranked school in the city with a cooking program, has a total student population of 4,619. It is the 3235th highest ranked school in the USA and the 119th highest in the state of Illinois (#1 is Northwestern University).
Cooking students from Chicago schools who go on to become chefs, cooks, sous chefs, line cooks, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 94,300 people working as chefs and head cooks alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $44,240. Also, Cooks, private household make on average $27,720 per year and there are about 770 of them employed in the US today.
Chicago lies in Cook county, which is one of the 49 counties in Illinois. Overall, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan area has 3,669,800 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $24/hr average worker wage, and a $48,910 average annual salary.
Of the 6 cooking schools in Chicago, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Kendall College comes out as the most expensive ($33,701/yr) for cooking students, with City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College as the lowest, reported at only $7,071/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Chicago |
| Berwyn | IL | 49,477 | 1 | 23.6937 | 4 | 5.7 miles |
| Oak Park | IL | 49,270 | 1 | 1.32863 | 0 | 6.6 miles |
| River Forest | IL | - | 2 | 45.0836 | 173 | 8.0 miles |
| River Grove | IL | - | 1 | 11.7006 | 67 | 10.0 miles |
| Blue Island | IL | - | 2 | 31.6013 | 8 | 12.6 miles |
| Palos Heights | IL | - | 1 | 26.9291 | 61 | 13.3 miles |
| Skokie | IL | 66,692 | 6 | 22.9614 | 40 | 14.2 miles |
| Evanston | IL | 78,672 | 5 | 24.133 | 202 | 14.5 miles |
| Villa Park | IL | - | 2 | 31.4324 | 7 | 16.3 miles |
| Oak Forest | IL | - | 1 | 38.4537 | 3 | 16.7 miles |
| South Holland | IL | - | 1 | 10.1002 | 61 | 17.0 miles |
| Addison | IL | - | 1 | 11.9746 | 2 | 17.1 miles |
| Lombard | IL | 43,240 | 3 | 11.1886 | 2 | 17.1 miles |
| Des Plaines | IL | 57,512 | 1 | 11.0092 | 69 | 17.3 miles |
| Calumet City | IL | - | 1 | 19.3758 | 27 | 17.4 miles |
| Downers Grove | IL | 49,475 | 1 | 0.403237 | 10 | 17.7 miles |
| Glenview | IL | 46,461 | 0 | - | 0 | 18.1 miles |
| Hammond | IN | 75,871 | 5 | 27.9021 | 191 | 18.1 miles |
| Orland Park | IL | 55,957 | 1 | 26.0399 | 11 | 18.2 miles |
| Tinley Park | IL | 60,149 | 0 | - | 0 | 19.7 miles |
| Glen Ellyn | IL | - | 1 | 13.8242 | 100 | 20.1 miles |
| Woodridge | IL | - | 1 | 16.3637 | 24 | 20.2 miles |
| Lisle | IL | - | 2 | 24.7595 | 107 | 20.5 miles |
| Mount Prospect | IL | 52,994 | 2 | 36.9644 | 21 | 20.8 miles |
| Glendale Heights | IL | - | 1 | 27.7281 | 3 | 21.3 miles |
| Bolingbrook | IL | 72,318 | 0 | - | 0 | 22.8 miles |
| Arlington Heights | IL | 73,268 | 1 | 24.4091 | 3 | 23.2 miles |
| Chicago Heights | IL | - | 1 | 9.7858 | 55 | 23.2 miles |
| Carol Stream | IL | 40,639 | 0 | - | 0 | 23.8 miles |
| Gary | IN | 94,891 | 2 | 28.0598 | 98 | 24.2 miles |