Also called: Flavor Chemist
Creates the flavors in sodas, candy, chips, and toothpaste.
Flavorists mix natural and artificial ingredients to recreate tastes like strawberry, buttered popcorn, or a brand-new soda flavor, tasting and adjusting endlessly in a lab. Many work for flavor companies in Ohio, New Jersey, and the Midwest.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 9 years after high school. Chemistry or food science degree plus a 5-7 year apprenticeship to become a Certified Flavorist through the Society of Flavor Chemists.
Ways in: 4-year college, Apprenticeship, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemistry, Food Science, Biochemistry.
Growing about average. No separate BLS projection; estimate based on related occupations.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI suggests flavor formulas and predicts consumer liking, trimming lab grunt work; tasting, adjusting and certification stay with flavorists.
Classes: AP Chemistry, Biology, Culinary arts, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-2031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.