How Much Does a Nutritionist Make?

Nutritionists are experts in all things food and nutrition in order to advise individuals on what to eat for the healthiest lifestyle choices. They are typically responsible for educating people about nutrition issues. Nutritionists are also in charge of assessing patients’ health dietary needs or devising specific meal plans with the patients’ preferences in mind. They also need to take care of the following:

evaluate the effects of the developed meal plans;
promote better nutrition through presentations or speeches;
conduct research on all the latest nutritional science findings.

But how much do nutritionists make for all of this?

Salary

According to Salary.com, the average nutritionist salary in January 2018 is $59,133, which translates to a mean hourly wage of $28.

While the bottom ten percent in the field earns $48,999 or less, the top ten percent of nutritionists make considerably more at $70,306 each year.

Work Environment

The majority of nutritionists work at local, state, or private hospitals to address the specific health needs of patients under the facility’s care. Other nutritionists work at food service organizations, cafeterias, nursing care facilities, outpatient care centers, physician offices, and schools.

Most nutritionists work full-time in these settings, but about 20 percent have part-time jobs in their duties. The 15 percent of nutritionists who are self-employed have the most amount of flexibility in their scheduling. Self-employed nutritionists may work as consultants, for healthcare facilities on a contract basis, or with individual clients directly through their own private practice devoted to nutrition.

Job Outlook

There has been a recent spike in interest in promoting health and wellness. This comes as a result of the preventative healthcare movement and obesity epidemic in America. Consequently, employment for nutritionists should increase faster than the average for most occupations. People expect it to grow at a rate of 20 percent between 2010 and 2020. We know that the climbing prevalence of individuals with diabetes and heart disease contributes to this. Moreover, the aging baby boomer population will drive the demand for more nutritionists to provide advice for proper nutritional care.