Memphis, TN (population: 662,989) has two cooking schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Coahoma Community College, the highest ranked school in this group with a cooking program, has a total student population of 2,565. It is the 4374th highest ranked school in the USA and the 44th highest in the state of Mississippi (#1 is Creations College of Cosmetology).
Cooking students from Memphis 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.
Memphis lies in Shelby county, which is one of the 26 counties in Tennessee. Overall, the Memphis-MS-AR area has 605,630 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1.2% unemployment rate, $18.93/hr average worker wage, and a $39,380 average annual salary.
Of the 2 cooking schools with a 100-mile radius of Memphis, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Northeast Mississippi Community College comes out as the most expensive ($6,099/yr) for cooking students, with Coahoma Community College as the lowest, reported at only $3,529/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Memphis |
| Southaven | MS | 47,625 | 1 | 27.9087 | 11 | 9.7 miles |
| Bartlett | TN | 47,744 | 0 | - | 0 | 12.3 miles |
| Senatobia | MS | - | 1 | 17.4796 | 114 | 34.1 miles |
| Jonesboro | AR | 66,734 | 1 | 24.4204 | 8 | 62.3 miles |
| State University | AR | - | 1 | 57.8251 | 135 | 63.1 miles |