How To Become A Dietician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dietician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Sandra Poirier

Dieticians help patients improve their health by improving their relationship to food. Dieticians can work one-on-one with people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes by creating personalized meal plans or teaching group classes on nutrition to at-risk patients. Many work in residential facilities, like nursing homes or eating disorder treatment centers, to design menus to meet patient needs. Dieticians also keep track of patient data, such as their bloodwork, to ensure that their diet plans are doing their job.

While dieticians and nutritionists both work on improving patient health through food, there are differences between the two professions. There are more legal restrictions on who can call themselves a dietician in some areas.

To become a dietician, a person usually needs to complete a bachelor's degree in dietetics, although many work with just a high school diploma. While they're studying, many future dieticians gain practical experience through an internship. In most states, dieticians need to get certified by the Commission on Dietetic Registration to practice. Although it takes many years to become a dietician, it is worth it--they earn an average salary of $51,799 a year.

What general advice would you give to a Dietician?

Dr. Sandra Poirier

Professor, Website

* Definitely technology skills, i.e. AI, and any new computer program that will be developed for maintaining patient's records.

* Understanding the aging population and how those skills working with that aging population are very different than other life stages.

* Telehealth skills using the phone and videos to meet virtually and work with patients.

ScoreDieticianUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $55,763

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate 7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.86%

Asian 9.58%

Black or African American 9.62%

Hispanic or Latino 10.62%

Unknown 3.63%

White 65.70%

Gender

female 72.83%

male 27.17%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.8

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.9

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a dietician

Explore dietician education requirements

Most common dietician degrees

Bachelor's

30.8 %

High School Diploma

30.3 %

Associate

17.2 %

Start to develop specific dietician skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	36.11%
Patient Care	7.45%
Nutrition Education	6.16%
Medical Nutrition Therapy	5.13%
Rehabilitation	4.12%

Complete relevant dietician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dieticians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dietician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dietician resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed dietician usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed dietician in most of states. 35 states require dieticians to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License Url
Alabama	Degree required	-	Licensed Dietician
Alaska	Degree required	-	Dietitian
Arkansas	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Dietitian
Connecticut	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Dietitian/Nutritionist
Delaware	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Dietician/Nutritionist

Research dietician duties and responsibilities

Lead weekly nutrition classes for weight loss, cholesterol control and diabetes education.
Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
Spearhead initiation of diabetes support groups.
Input have CMS and facility mandate timelines.

Prepare your dietician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dietician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dietician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dietician Resume templates

Build a professional Dietician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Dietician resume.

Apply for dietician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dietician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams