restaurant boom

Texas to lead nation in culinary job growth by 2032, report predicts

With all the booming restaurant scenes in major cities like Austin, Texas' overall culinary industry will grow faster than the rest of the country within the next six years, Escoffier predicts.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

A new analysis has revealed that Texas is expected to lead the nation in culinary job growth by 2032.

The nationally recognized Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts put together the study, which compares all 50 states to determine their job prospects for chefs and head cooks, restaurant cooks, and food service managers based on three key metrics: projected growth rates from 2022-2032, the total number of new positions that entails, and actual job growth rates from 2022-2024.

Texas' culinary industry is expected to grow by 24.88 percent by 2032, the report found, which is the highest projected growth rate nationwide. That translates to more than 52,000 culinary jobs created within the next six years.

Escoffier also broke down individual projections across all three metrics:

45,150 new restaurant cook jobs, a 39.72 percent increase
3,580 new chef and head cook jobs, a 19.76 percent increase
3,340 new food service manager jobs, a 15.17 percent increase

"The top three states alone — Texas, California, and Florida — will add nearly 130,000 culinary jobs, almost 45 percent of all jobs created in this industry (despite those states making up about 28 percent of the nation’s population)," the report said. "This demonstrates an extraordinary scale of opportunity for job seekers willing to relocate to states with booming restaurant scenes."

Major Texas cities, including Austin, are bursting with highly esteemed award-winning chefs who are defining the local restaurant scenes. And there are just as many up-and-coming chefs rising through the culinary pipeline.

As Escoffier notes, projections are just one factor among many that determine the strength of the national culinary industry. Texas' combined actual culinary job growth from 2022-2024 is down 0.28 percent when compared to expectations.

"This simply means that, over the past few years, the state appears to have underperformed growth projections; the industry still grew in that state, but perhaps not as much as anticipated," the report's author clarifies. "Given the short timeframe (2022-2024), this category plays a small role in our rankings relative to the ten-year projections."

Washington led the U.S. with the most new culinary jobs added from 2022-2024, with 5,800 positions created during that time. Escoffier said Washington handily beat expectations that only 1,300 jobs would be added, representing a 348 percent "overperformance."

The top 10 states with the fastest-growing culinary industry are:

No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – California
No. 3 – Georgia
No. 4 – Florida
No. 5 – Washington
No. 6 – North Carolina
No. 7 – Utah
No. 8 – Arizona
No. 9 – Nevada
No. 10 – Alabama

texas culinary job market reports

Toast of the Town

Celebrate Austin's culinary stars at 2026 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards

Photo by Guillermo Rosas

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If you love food and drink, this one's for you. The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards return this spring to celebrate Austin's top restaurant and bar talent — and you can get first dibs on discounted tickets right now.

Join us April 9 at Distribution Hall for our annual tasting event and awards ceremony. You'll indulge in delicious bites from top chefs, sip signature drinks, and be there for the big reveal of our 2026 Austin winners.

This year in Austin, we'll present awards for Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Bar of the Year, Rising Star Chef of the Year, Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year, Dessert Program of the Year, Coffee Shop of the Year, Best New Restaurant, and our wildcard category, Best Sandwich.

Our panel of judges — including past Tastemaker winners and local industry experts — selects all nominees and winners, except for the Best New Restaurant winner, which will be determined by our savvy readers in a heated online tournament.

Stay tuned for the unveiling of the 2026 Austin Tastemaker Awards nominees, then get to know them all in our special editorial series leading up to the event.

The annual CultureMap Tastemaker Awards program is as big as Texas. Mark your calendars for our full event series taking place this spring:

Austin — April 9 at Distribution Hall
Houston — April 16 at Silver Street Studios
Fort Worth — April 30 at Social Space
Dallas — May 7 at Astoria Event Venue
San Antonio — May 14 at the Briscoe Museum

Ready to toast the Tastemakers? A limited number of First Dibs tickets are on sale now at discounted rates of $50 for general admission and $99 for VIP (includes early access to the event, dedicated bar, and more perks).

More delicious details are coming soon, but don't delay. Grab your First Dibs tickets for Austin — and all of our 2026 events — before they're gone.

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The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards ceremony is sponsored in Austin by Garrison at Fairmont Austin, Nxt Lvl Events, and more to be announced. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Central Texas Food Bank.

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