# Food Scientists and Technologists

SOC 19-1012. Page: https://educationguide.com/careers/food-scientists-and-technologists

Use chemistry, microbiology, engineering, and other sciences to study the principles underlying the processing and deterioration of foods; analyze food content to determine levels of vitamins, fat, sugar, and protein; discover new food sources; research ways to make processed foods safe, palatable, and healthful; and apply food science knowledge to determine best ways to process, package, preserve, store, and distribute food.

## Pay and outlook
- U.S. median wage $88,720 (middle half $68,810–$116,650; BLS May 2025)
- Jobs 2025-35: 6.2%; ~1k openings a year; typical entry: Bachelor's degree

## Fields of degree of young workers (ages 25-34, bachelor's+)

## Median wage by state
- AL: $97,480
- AR: $84,330
- AZ: $90,450
- CA: $93,950
- CO: $99,580
- FL: $101,160
- GA: $86,050
- IA: $82,010
- ID: $77,440
- IL: $94,340
- IN: $69,350
- KS: $85,130
- KY: $98,710
- MA: $103,580
- MD: $93,330
- ME: $89,480
- MI: $76,940
- MN: $99,280
- MO: $105,930
- MT: $52,230
- NC: $79,840
- NE: $72,230
- NJ: $104,340
- NM: $79,130
- NV: $80,580
- NY: $94,070
- OH: $76,780
- OK: $84,750
- OR: $81,660
- PA: $83,380
- RI: $87,970
- SC: $108,660
- SD: $71,330
- TN: $81,760
- TX: $90,610
- UT: $73,280
- VA: $93,590
- WA: $94,990
- WI: $83,020

Method: https://educationguide.com/how-we-score#careers

Free to reuse with attribution: cite "EducationGuide.com" with a link to the page URL. Most figures are U.S. government data (public domain); loan default rates and athletics come from the Urban Institute Education Data Portal (ODC-By 1.0, attribution required) and founding years from Wikidata (CC0). O*NET data: CC BY 4.0, O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA).