San Diego, CA (population: 1,309,749) has five culinary schools within its city limits. Avance Beauty College, the highest ranked school in the city with a culinary program, has a total student population of 86. It is the 2173rd highest ranked school in the USA and the 200th highest in the state of California (#1 is University of California-Los Angeles).
Culinary students from San Diego 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.
San Diego lies in San Diego county, which is one of the 57 counties in California. Overall, the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area has 1,279,330 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $23/hr average worker wage, and a $48,860 average annual salary.
Of the 5 culinary schools in San Diego, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Paul Mitchell the School-San Diego comes out as the most expensive ($34,248/yr) for culinary students, with San Diego City College as the lowest, reported at only $6,682/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from San Diego |
| Chula Vista | CA | 226,606 | 2 | 21.0599 | 146 | 13.7 miles |
| Encinitas | CA | 61,488 | 0 | - | 0 | 18.0 miles |
| San Marcos | CA | 82,614 | 4 | 36.7693 | 363 | 22.9 miles |
| Carlsbad | CA | 99,613 | 3 | 21.734 | 46 | 23.1 miles |
| Escondido | CA | 139,583 | 1 | 0.0163751 | 0 | 23.2 miles |
| Temecula | CA | 104,516 | 3 | 32.0583 | 15 | 47.7 miles |
| Laguna Niguel | CA | 65,471 | 0 | - | 0 | 59.4 miles |
| Lake Elsinore | CA | 56,703 | 0 | - | 0 | 60.4 miles |
| Aliso Viejo | CA | 42,862 | 1 | 75.2668 | 4 | 62.7 miles |
| Mission Viejo | CA | 95,388 | 1 | 19.6994 | 137 | 62.7 miles |
| Laguna Beach | CA | - | 1 | 20.4608 | 2 | 62.9 miles |
| Newport Beach | CA | 80,777 | 1 | 0.80626 | 0 | 69.6 miles |
| Costa Mesa | CA | 113,091 | 7 | 22.8122 | 265 | 74.3 miles |
| Tustin | CA | 74,313 | 0 | - | 0 | 74.5 miles |
| Palm Desert | CA | 52,240 | 2 | 19.2411 | 98 | 77.3 miles |
| Fountain Valley | CA | 56,133 | 3 | 26.6774 | 70 | 77.9 miles |
| Riverside | CA | 302,653 | 8 | 32.5108 | 359 | 79.6 miles |
| Cathedral City | CA | 53,114 | 0 | - | 0 | 80.8 miles |
| Garden Grove | CA | 167,800 | 4 | 26.4852 | 22 | 82.2 miles |
| Anaheim | CA | 342,336 | 9 | 24.4064 | 97 | 82.8 miles |
| Coachella | CA | 42,148 | 1 | 32.7647 | 6 | 83.1 miles |
| Yorba Linda | CA | 67,194 | 0 | - | 0 | 83.1 miles |
| Fullerton | CA | 133,165 | 6 | 21.8966 | 252 | 87.0 miles |
| Cypress | CA | 47,588 | 2 | 8.65396 | 110 | 87.1 miles |
| Chino Hills | CA | 74,322 | 0 | - | 0 | 87.6 miles |
| Chino | CA | 84,585 | 0 | - | 0 | 88.9 miles |
| Long Beach | CA | 464,505 | 6 | 26.5161 | 271 | 89.8 miles |
| Ontario | CA | 174,731 | 7 | 23.7233 | 124 | 90.0 miles |
| Cerritos | CA | 51,327 | 3 | 18.7768 | 18 | 90.9 miles |
| Diamond Bar | CA | 57,662 | 0 | - | 0 | 91.0 miles |