Dietitians and Nutritionists
Plan and conduct food service or nutritional programs to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease. May supervise activities of a department providing quantity food services, counsel individuals, or conduct nutritional research.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Dietitians and Nutritionists. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $49,090 | $23.60 |
| 25th | $63,080 | $30.33 |
| 50th · Median | $76,400 | $36.73 |
| 75th | $89,340 | $42.95 |
| 90th | $103,720 | $49.87 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (21)
Typical tasks
- Assess nutritional needs, diet restrictions, and current health plans to develop and implement dietary-care plans and provide nutritional counseling.
- Evaluate laboratory tests in preparing nutrition recommendations.
- Counsel individuals and groups on basic rules of good nutrition, healthy eating habits, and nutrition monitoring to improve their quality of life.
- Advise patients and their families on nutritional principles, dietary plans, diet modifications, and food selection and preparation.
- Incorporate patient cultural, ethnic, or religious preferences and needs in the development of nutrition plans.
- Consult with physicians and health care personnel to determine nutritional needs and diet restrictions of patient or client.
Expand more tasks (22)
- Record and evaluate patient and family health and food history, including symptoms, environmental toxic exposure, allergies, medication factors, and preventive health-care measures.
- Develop recipes and menus to address special nutrition needs, such as low glycemic, low histamine, or gluten- or allergen-free.
- Coordinate diet counseling services.
- Develop curriculum and prepare manuals, visual aids, course outlines, and other materials used in teaching.
- Plan, conduct, and evaluate dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological research.
- Plan and conduct training programs in dietetics, nutrition, and institutional management and administration for medical students, health-care personnel, and the general public.
- Write research reports and other publications to document and communicate research findings.
- Select, train, and supervise workers who plan, prepare, and serve meals.
- Make recommendations regarding public policy, such as nutrition labeling, food fortification, or nutrition standards for school programs.
- Manage quantity food service departments or clinical and community nutrition services.
- Monitor food service operations to ensure conformance to nutritional, safety, sanitation and quality standards.
- Inspect meals served for conformance to prescribed diets and standards of palatability and appearance.
- Purchase food in accordance with health and safety codes.
- Develop policies for food service or nutritional programs to assist in health promotion and disease control.
- Organize, develop, analyze, test, and prepare special meals, such as low-fat, low-cholesterol, or chemical-free meals.
- Advise food service managers and organizations on sanitation, safety procedures, menu development, budgeting, and planning to assist with establishment, operation, and evaluation of food service facilities and nutrition programs.
- Prepare and administer budgets for food, equipment, and supplies.
- Plan, conduct, and evaluate nutrigenomic or nutrigenetic research.
- Coordinate recipe development and standardization and develop new menus for independent food service operations.
- Plan and prepare grant proposals to request program funding.
- Test new food products and equipment.
- Confer with design, building, and equipment personnel to plan for construction and remodeling of food service units.
Skills used in this work
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Expand more skills (29)
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
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