Master's · earnings grade

Is a Dietetics and Nutrition degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $47,260 two years after finishing, more than 35% of master's majors. Measured across 126 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

D

The verdict on the money

Financially it is a slower start than most majors at this level — worth planning your borrowing around.

Median earnings $47,260 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $46,087–$50,105 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$7,740 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 1,804 126 programmes

Where a Dietetics and Nutrition degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 California State University-Long Beach cost & debt at this university → $60,231 $61,516 not published —
2 California State University-Los Angeles cost & debt at this university → $54,405 $58,221 $63,894 —
3 Louisiana Tech University cost & debt at this university → $53,464 $56,415 not published 8
4 Loma Linda University cost & debt at this university → $56,926 $55,964 $58,181 23
5 University of Memphis cost & debt at this university → $48,011 $53,775 not published —
6 SUNY Oneonta $51,203 $50,995 $50,343 11
7 Immaculata University $55,139 $50,856 $50,759 14
8 University of North Florida cost & debt at this university → $49,715 $50,105 $50,850 28
9 Saint Louis University cost & debt at this university → $46,019 $49,918 $52,588 —
10 Northern Illinois University cost & debt at this university → $50,653 $49,136 $55,845 13
11 Marshall University cost & debt at this university → not published $48,667 not published 18
12 Appalachian State University cost & debt at this university → $45,824 $48,432 $50,657 41

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $47,260 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $47,846 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is lower here, which means the larger programmes in this field pay less than the small ones.

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median master's major in this dataset reports $52,837, so Dietetics and Nutrition sits below the middle by $5,577.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Dietetics and Nutrition at other levels

Bachelor's — $32,925 (D)

Study Dietetics and Nutrition Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

Dietetics and Nutrition — University of Pecs

Majors that pay more at this level Closest first — useful if you are still choosing.

TESOL — $47,930 Linguistic, Comparative — $48,041 Teacher Education — $48,302 Microbiology — $48,432 Natural Resources and Conservation — $48,432 Foods, Nutrition — $48,432

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Dietetics and Nutrition: the questions people ask

How much do Dietetics and Nutrition graduates earn?
The median master's graduate earns $47,260 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 26 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $48,691.
Is a Dietetics and Nutrition degree worth it?
Financially it is a slower start than most majors at this level — worth planning your borrowing around. The median graduate earns $7,740 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Dietetics and Nutrition?
Half of US programmes report medians between $46,087 and $50,105. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Dietetics and Nutrition each year?
About 1,804 students complete a master's in this field each year across 126 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.
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Classified by the Department of Education as Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services (CIP 5131). Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.