Costa Mesa, CA (population: 113,091) has three culinary schools within its city limits. Paul Mitchell the School-Costa Mesa, the highest ranked school in the city with a culinary program, has a total student population of 306. It is the 1905th highest ranked school in the USA and the 177th highest in the state of California (#1 is University of California-Los Angeles).
Culinary students from Costa Mesa schools who go on to become culinary artists, bakers, chefs, cooks, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 140,510 people working as bakers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $25,350. Also, Cooks, private household make on average $27,720 per year and there are about 770 of them employed in the US today.
Costa Mesa lies in Orange county, which is one of the 57 counties in California. Overall, the Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine Metropolitan area has 1,433,060 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $24/hr average worker wage, and a $48,940 average annual salary.
Of the 3 culinary schools in Costa Mesa, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Paul Mitchell the School-Costa Mesa comes out as the most expensive ($32,838/yr) for culinary students, with Orange Coast College as the lowest, reported at only $5,214/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Costa Mesa |
| Fountain Valley | CA | 56,133 | 3 | 26.6774 | 70 | 3.6 miles |
| Newport Beach | CA | 80,777 | 1 | 0.80626 | 0 | 4.7 miles |
| Tustin | CA | 74,313 | 0 | - | 0 | 7.1 miles |
| Garden Grove | CA | 167,800 | 4 | 26.4852 | 22 | 8.1 miles |
| Laguna Beach | CA | - | 1 | 20.4608 | 2 | 11.5 miles |
| Anaheim | CA | 342,336 | 9 | 24.4064 | 97 | 12.0 miles |
| Aliso Viejo | CA | 42,862 | 1 | 75.2668 | 4 | 12.5 miles |
| Cypress | CA | 47,588 | 2 | 8.65396 | 110 | 12.8 miles |
| Fullerton | CA | 133,165 | 6 | 21.8966 | 252 | 14.6 miles |
| Laguna Niguel | CA | 65,471 | 0 | - | 0 | 15.5 miles |
| Mission Viejo | CA | 95,388 | 1 | 19.6994 | 137 | 15.5 miles |
| Long Beach | CA | 464,505 | 6 | 26.5161 | 271 | 16.6 miles |
| Cerritos | CA | 51,327 | 3 | 18.7768 | 18 | 16.6 miles |
| Yorba Linda | CA | 67,194 | 0 | - | 0 | 17.2 miles |
| Paramount | CA | 55,280 | 1 | 16.5087 | 2 | 21.4 miles |
| Downey | CA | 107,986 | 0 | - | 0 | 22.6 miles |
| Chino Hills | CA | 74,322 | 0 | - | 0 | 22.7 miles |
| Hacienda Heights | CA | 52,748 | 0 | - | 0 | 23.1 miles |
| Diamond Bar | CA | 57,662 | 0 | - | 0 | 23.5 miles |
| West Covina | CA | 106,032 | 5 | 23.6693 | 37 | 26.3 miles |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | CA | 41,164 | 1 | 20.67 | 2 | 26.6 miles |
| Chino | CA | 84,585 | 0 | - | 0 | 26.7 miles |
| Torrance | CA | 141,478 | 4 | 20.3998 | 164 | 27.1 miles |
| Pomona | CA | 154,638 | 7 | 31.7114 | 195 | 28.3 miles |
| East Los Angeles | CA | 135,682 | 0 | - | 0 | 29.0 miles |
| Covina | CA | 46,974 | 0 | - | 0 | 29.1 miles |
| La Verne | CA | - | 1 | 61.7321 | 71 | 30.9 miles |
| Alhambra | CA | 86,214 | 4 | 31.3851 | 25 | 31.0 miles |
| Ontario | CA | 174,731 | 7 | 23.7233 | 124 | 31.4 miles |
| Claremont | CA | - | 9 | 42.2091 | 338 | 31.5 miles |