11 Best Paying Cities for Dietitians and Nutritionists

If you are a dietitian or nutritionist or thinking about a career as one, then you will definitely like to learn about the 11 best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists. 

While it is true that technology has made our lives a lot easier, technology also has its downsides as well. One major downside is that we have arguably become less healthy, we do not get proper exercise, and we certainly do not eat as well as we should. Dietitians and nutritionists promote healthy eating habits by educating us about food and making health plans. Take wines for example, did you know that wine could also help you with diet control? If you didn’t realize that, just take a look at the 11 Lowest Calorie Diet Friendly Wines You Actually Want to Drink — you won’t regret it. If you are thinking about becoming a nutritionist, then before we talk about the cities that pay the most money, we need to talk about the types of nutritionists you can work as. The burning question here is what type of dietitian makes the most money? There are roughly three types of nutritionists out there; Clinical dietitians and nutritionists, Community dietitians and nutritionists, and Management dietitians. Basically the Clinical dietitians and nutritionists make the most money, of the three. However, you do not need to have any special qualifications to work as a clinical dietitian and nutritionist, as basically any dietitian and nutritionist can fill these three roles with ease.

As far as job responsibilities are concerned for dietitians and nutritionists, unique dietitian jobs are not really a thing because you do pretty much the same thing on every job as a dietitian. You offer advice to your clients, whether you are operating as a private business or working for an organization. Now that said, we are more interested in the money making aspect of the job, and this is where this job shines really bright. If you are working as a top tier dietitian and nutritionist, you can easily earn six figures per year. According to our sources, the highest average annual salary for dietitians and nutritionists is $114,030 for the top 10%. If you are asking yourself “how much do dietitians make with a masters degree?” it’s going to be around that ballpark figure. If you are interested in the consultant dietitian hourly rate, then the private practice dietitian fees range from $50 to $150 per hour according to our sources.

To get information for this article and list, we, of course, used the most reliable sources on this matter – the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and Health Care Wages. The data they had available was for May 2016, and we went with that. The annual median dietitian salary 2016 was around $58,920, and if anything the number has gone up a bit in the past year. One more logical question when talking about salaries is, is there a high demand for dietitians or not? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. Just check out the 25 Best States For Dietitians and Nutritionists, and you will have a thorough idea about the demand for dietitians and nutritionists in the market.

Let’s talk a bit about our ranking methodology. We basically ranked the cities based on the average annual salary. The higher the number, the higher a city has been placed on the list. We are talking about BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) here, and thus we can say with a great degree of conviction that the cities we have listed here are certainly the best places to work for dietitians and nutritionists in the United States.

Let’s get our list of best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists started.

11. San Jose

Average annual salary:  $71,070

San Jose is a good place to start as a professional dietitian. Jobs and career opportunities are plentiful, but you have to be very efficient at your job in order to land a secure job as a dietitian in San Jose, as there is already a good number of dietitians working in the city.

10. Los Angeles

Average annual salary: $71,940

Los Angeles takes number 10 on our list, by barely beating San Jose. The margin was really small — about $900. However, a single dollar worth of difference must be considered, hence Los Angeles is our 10th pick.

9. Danbury

Average annual salary: $72,970

Among the best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists we have Danbury, a really small city, especially given its proximity to one of the world’s largest cities, New York. Anyway, despite its small stature, if you are a dietitian, you will make quite a good living out in Danbury, and according to our sources, you can expect to make around $73,000 a year.

8. Santa Rosa

Average annual salary: $74,970

Clocking in at almost 75 grand a year, dietitians make a lot of money in Santa Rosa. However, it is a much bigger city than our previous entrant, and with many more opportunities to work as a dietitian.

7. Stockton

Average annual salary: $75,120

This Californian City is famous for many things, however, we are mainly interested in it because the dietitians there are making a quarter of a hundred thousand dollars per year, and that is just the average. Imagine how much the top 10% dietitians are making. However, it is California and the cost of living isn’t that low.

6. Santa Barbara

Average annual salary: $75,840

We are halfway through our list of best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists, and with over 75 grand a year as the average salary, we have Santa Barbra occupying this crucial position on our list. Again, you’ll need that money to survive as the median home value here is around one million dollars.

5. Modesto

Average annual salary: $76,010

Well, to be honest, the average annual salary is to be expected from a major city as Modesto. It is the largest city in Stanislaus County, and also the county seat. However, the number of jobs is a bit limited.

4. Salinas

Average annual salary: $77,880

Salinas is a municipality in California. As you can see the average salary for dietitians and nutritionists is really high, but the number of jobs available is not that lucrative in comparison.

3. Vallejo

Average annual salary: $79,430

If you haven’t noticed yet, best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists as far as salary goes, are in California. At number three we have Vallejo, so basically Vallejo is the third most lucrative city for a dietitian to work in, and with an average salary of almost 80 thousand, it does really seem like it.

2. Oakland

Average annual salary: $81,910

The runner-up on our list is Oakland, which is the first city to go beyond the threshold of 80 thousand, and that is just the average annual salary. If you are an experienced dietitian, then you will earn considerably more than that.

1. San Francisco

Average annual salary: $82,680

At the pinnacle of our list we have San Francisco. If you are a dietitian, then we recommend that you start your career at San Francisco if possible, as, by pay scale alone, this is the best city for dietitians and nutritionists. However, you still might need to live with roommates if you are living in the city because it’s so expensive.

This wraps it up for our list of the best paying cities for dietitians and nutritionists.