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Food Scientists and Technologists

SOC 19-1012 · 2024-2034

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.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

The job this trains for

Typical pay in California
$96,580per year
Projected openings
1,990
Projected change
+8.7%
Usually needs
Bachelor's degree

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth

The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

  1. Active Learning
  2. Critical Thinking
  3. Reading Comprehension
  4. Active Listening
  5. Complex Problem Solving
  6. Judgment and Decision Making

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$108,54690
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$108,066220
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$90,995340
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$89,570140
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$85,91370
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$84,424120
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$83,754130
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$83,56160
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$81,62040
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$81,04460
Merced MSA (Merced County)$79,46230
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$79,46290
Napa MSA (Napa County)$77,04990
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$75,662100
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$70,59820
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$64,24030

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

The job this trains forTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openingsProjected change
Food Science Technicians$55,7177,950+3.9%
Chemists$100,5997,770+7.9%
Agricultural Technicians$62,0095,430+5.9%
Soil and Plant Scientists$94,5031,660+4.8%
Microbiologists$111,5682,400+11.1%
Architectural and Engineering Managers$213,80820,870+5%

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