Louisiana·Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations·SOC 29-1031

Best Dietitian programs in Louisiana, ranked by enrollment

Plan and conduct food service or nutritional programs to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease.

6 schools in Louisiana run programs that feed this job, graduating 132 people a year. The job pays a median of $70,460 in Louisiana across about 800 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDietitianNutritionistClinical DietitianRegistered DietitianDietistDieticianDietary AideFood Advisor
Graduates / yr
132
in Louisiana
Median pay · Louisiana
$70,460
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
800
people employed
Schools
6
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
61%
across those schools
Median net price
$33,106
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Louisiana that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

4 programs in Louisiana that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Louisiana (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Louisiana page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 30.1901In Louisiana
68
51.5%
3$30,508$24,586
2
CIP 51.3101In Louisiana
47
35.6%
2$33,554$24,625
3
CIP 51.3199In Louisiana
15
11.4%
1$33,554$24,625
4
CIP 51.3102In Louisiana
2
1.5%
1$33,554$24,625

Top 6 schools in Louisiana

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 6 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
Baton Rouge, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
53Nutrition Sciences$26,11769%73%
2Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
34Dietetics/Dietitian64%86%
3Nicholls State University
Thibodaux, LA Public · 2 feeder programs
28Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services, Other54%91%
4Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University
Baton Rouge, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
12Nutrition Sciences45%$17,92599%
5Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Nutrition Sciences86%$33,10614%
6McNeese State University
Lake Charles, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
2Clinical Nutrition/Nutritionist47%78%

All 6 schools in Louisiana

Every school in Louisiana with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Louisiana that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical CollegeBaton RougePublic531
Louisiana Tech UniversityRustonPublic341
Nicholls State UniversityThibodauxPublic282
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady UniversityBaton RougePrivate not-for-profit121
Tulane University of LouisianaNew OrleansPrivate not-for-profit31
McNeese State UniversityLake CharlesPublic21

What dietitians and nutritionists earn in Louisiana

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Louisiana
$70,460
Mean annual
$71,130
Jobs in state
800
What the range looks like
10th pct$49,230Median$70,46090th pct$91,560
Versus the national median
-7.8%

U.S. median $76,400. Louisiana pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.83×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Louisiana

New Orleans-Metairie, LA
$73,180median
190 jobs
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA
$66,450median
30 jobs
Alexandria, LA
$75,520median
40 jobs
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
$72,820median
70 jobs
Baton Rouge, LA
$70,940median
140 jobs
Monroe, LA
$73,450median
40 jobs
Lafayette, LA
$63,200median
100 jobs
Hammond, LA
$62,710median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+5.5%
Faster than average
Openings per year
6,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
5,000
90,900 → 95,900
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus internship/residency

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Dietitians and Nutritionists page.

How to become a Dietitian

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
On-the-job training
Internship/residency

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Louisiana

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 8 majors mapped to Dietitians and Nutritionists8 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 19.0501Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, General
  • 19.0504Human Nutrition
  • 19.0505Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
  • 19.0599Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services, Other
  • 30.1901Nutrition Sciences
  • 51.3101Dietetics/Dietitian
  • 51.3102Clinical Nutrition/Nutritionist
  • 51.3199Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing dietitians and nutritionists programs in Louisiana.

What degree do you need to become a Dietitian?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Nutrition Sciences, which awarded 68 degrees in Louisiana in 2024-25, 51.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Dietitian?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Nutrition Sciences, Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services. Together they graduate about 132 people a year in Louisiana.

How much do dietitians and nutritionists earn in Louisiana?+

The median is $70,460 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.8% below the U.S. median of $76,400. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for dietitians and nutritionists growing?+

BLS projects a +5.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 6,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Louisiana?+

6 institutions in Louisiana reported graduates from at least one of the 4 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do dietitians and nutritionists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Dietitian, Nutritionist, Clinical Dietitian, Registered Dietitian among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1031.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

All Clema data sources and release dates →

Explore every U.S. college in one conversation

Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.

Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card