Nutritionists are experts on food consumption and nutritional value of human diets. Nutritionists are often registered dieticians, and both work in varying consulting and advising capacities. If you’re interested in studying nutrition and food consumption, you should consider becoming a nutritionist or dietician. Figuring out how much money you could make in a future career is always important. Although dieticians and nutritionists aren’t entirely the same occupation, they often share job descriptions or responsibilities and for the purposes of providing salary data, they are typically grouped together as one field.
Median Salary
The median pay for all dieticians and nutritionists nationally is around $55,240 per year, or $26.56 per hour. Keep in mind that this number is representative of all nutritionists regardless of experience level or education. As with any job, your pay could be more or less than the national median based on how much you as an individual have to offer to the organization.
Entry-Level Salary
While the median salary for nutritionists is around $55,000, the lower end of the spectrum is around $27,400. This means that if you’re a nutritionist at the entry-level point in your career, you are much more likely to make around $30,000 when you start out than you are to make around $55,000. Getting more years of experience will help your overall salary increase over your lifetime.
Salary by Location
Bigger cities and more populated areas tend to pay more across all fields. The cities with the highest rate of growth for nutritionist jobs are New York, Atlanta, and Miami. However, the areas of the U.S. with the highest paying jobs for nutritionists are Bethesda, Maryland, Las Vegas, and three cities in California: Vallejo, Salinas, and Oakland. Keep in mind that these areas have higher salaries based on industry location and area need.
Outlook
Nutritionist jobs are estimated to increase by about 21% between 2012 and 2022. This job outlook is faster than the average rate of growth across other occupations in the United States. This means that studying to be a nutritionist now is predicted to be a good decision based on 10-year indicators.
Education
Whether your technical job title is dietician or nutritionist, you’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree in order to practice and advise clients on nutritional decisions. The more education you have, of course, the better your salary prospects will be. Getting a master’s degree or even clinical training can help substantiate your expert opinion, and organizations will be willing to pay you more. Many degree programs will also require internship training before you can land an entry-level position.
