Also called: Personal Chef, Estate Chef
Cooks for one wealthy household, a family, or an athlete, often traveling with them.
You plan a week of meals around the family's diets, shop at specialty markets, and cook dinner for six or a party for sixty. Some private chefs travel to vacation homes or on private jets. Discretion matters as much as skill.
Live-in estate and celebrity chefs can earn $120k-$200k+.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Restaurant experience; culinary school helps; reputation is everything.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Trade school, 2-year college. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Culinary Arts.
Growing faster than average.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps plan menus, but cooking for one household, in their kitchen, is hands-on and built on trust.
Classes: Culinary arts CTE, Foods & Nutrition class, Business.
Official data: O*NET occupation 35-2013.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.