What is the Average Salary of a Registered Nutritionist?
A registered nutritionist -- or simply, a nutritionist -- is a person who advises people on the use of nutrients for growth and maintenance. In terms of average salary, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies nutritionists with dietitians, who serve the same purpose but play more of a diet-planning role. The average salary that nutritionists make depends on a number of factors, namely type of workplace and geographical region.
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National Mean Annual Salary
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With more than 53,000 registered nutritionists employed in the U.S. in 2009, the mean annual salary was $53,230, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a mean hourly wage of $25.59. Wages had grown by 0.5 percent from 2008 to 2009.
National Median Annual Salary
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In 2009, the national median annual salary for registered nutritionists was $52,150, with an hourly wage of $25.07. The bottom 10 percent of nutritionists made a yearly salary of $33,230, while the top 10 percent made an annual salary of $74,690.
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Salary by Workplace
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More than a third of registered nutritionists worked in hospitals in 2009, according to the BLS. There, they made a mean annual salary of $53,560, which was slightly above the national mean. Another major employer, outpatient care centers, also pays higher than the national mean, with $54,440. However, other major employers -- such as nursing care facilities with $53,130 and the local government sector with $49,150 -- fell below the mark. The highest-paying workplaces for nutritionists included the federal executive branch with $68,390, home health care centers with $62,050, health and personal care stores with $60,890, and medical and diagnostic laboratories with $60,150.
Salary by State
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The BLS reports that Maryland was the highest-paying state for registered nutritionists in 2009, with a mean annual salary of $64,600. Rounding out a top-five list is Nevada with $63,860, California with $63,610, Hawaii with $62,750 and Connecticut with $61,750. All those salaries are above the national mean. By contrast, the District of Columbia, with the densest nutritionist population in the country, provided a mean annual salary of $47,690, which is below the national numbers.
Salary by Metropolitan Area
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California, the third-highest paying state for registered nutritionists in 2009, had four of the five highest-paying metropolitan areas, according to the BLS. They were San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara in first place with $80,470, Modesto in third place with $69,780, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City in fourth place with $69,410 and Santa Rosa-Petaluma in fifth place with $68,910. Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg in Maryland was second with $79,610.
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