A dietitian isn’t a medical doctor, but they are concerned with the human body and the food that we put into our bodies. Typically, dietitians work in settings like hospitals, cafeterias, nursing homes, or private practices to help plan meals for organizations or individuals and provide consultation services regarding diet and nutrition. If you think being a dietitian sounds like the career for you, it’s important to know what kind of money you’ll be able to make over the course of your career before you invest in your education. Continue reading to find out what you need to know about your salary outlook.
Average Registered Dietitian Salary
The mean annual wage for dietitians and nutritionists across all education levels, years of experience, and industry is $56,300 or $27.07 per hour. This number is what you can expect to make as a dietitian mid-career. However, the more education and years of experience you have, the higher you are likely to be paid. For instance, the mean annual wage represents both nutritionists and dietitians, and nutritionists often don’t have the same level of education as dietitians. So, it’s possible that the mean annual wage is higher for dietitians.
Entry-Level Registered Dietitian Salary
The lowest paid 10% of dietitians and nutritionists make less than $33,390 per year, or about $16.34 an hour. These figures are likely to be representative of what you can expect to make when you’re first starting out in your career. The more years that you work in the field or for an organization, the higher your pay will be over time.
Industry/Work Environments
Dietitians work in different settings, such as hospitals, cafeterias, or private practices. If you’re looking to make the most money, you should know which work settings tend to pay the highest and which have the most jobs. The highest-paying industries for dietitians include grant-making services, the Federal Executive Branch, administrative services, insurance carriers, and home healthcare services. The industries with the highest level of employment for dietitians include general medical and surgical hospitals, nursing care facilities, outpatient care facilities, local governments, and special food services.
Location
For dietitians, the best states to work in tend to fall along the east and west coasts. The states with the highest levels of employment for dietitians include California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The top-paying states for dietitians include California, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, and Connecticut.
Job Outlook
On average, jobs across all occupations are estimated to grow by 11% by 2022. Jobs for all health diagnosing and treating practitioners, by comparison, are supposed to grow by 20% by 2022. Jobs for dietitians and nutritionists are supposed to increase by 21% by 2022. This means that there is a generally fast rate of growth for dietitian jobs, which means there’s a good job outlook for someone thinking about starting a career as a dietitian.
