College Scorecard · field of study · all U.S. colleges

Is an Agricultural Engineering degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 23 colleges (23 of 23 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after

$59,306

Graduates only, early career.$56,415 two years out.

Median federal debt

$22,437

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay

0.38×

38% of a first year's earnings.

Typical debt is well under a single year's early-career pay.

The college you pick moves this a lot

The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Agricultural Engineering report early-career pay between $54,405 and $60,891 — a spread of $6,486 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $54,405 median $59,306 75th pct $60,891

Where an Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

The 15 programs with the highest reported pay one year after completion. This reflects who enrolls and where they live as much as the program itself — it is not a causal quality ranking.

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $67,924 $15,374 debt

Purdue University-Main Campus IN $63,560 $20,000 debt

Iowa State University IA $63,141 $20,750 debt

University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $61,703 $19,970 debt

South Dakota State University SD $61,007 —

University of Maryland-College Park MD $60,946 $22,437 debt

Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus PA $60,836 $27,000 debt

Texas A&M University-College Station TX $60,523 $18,000 debt

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $60,131 $26,125 debt

Oklahoma State University-Main Campus OK $59,850 $19,875 debt

North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC $59,810 $25,000 debt

Michigan State University MI $59,306 $28,000 debt

North Dakota State University-Main Campus ND $59,019 —

Kansas State University KS $57,356 $18,757 debt

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $56,730 $23,742 debt

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Agricultural Engineering, from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn (your college, effort, and local job market vary enormously — see the spread above), not lifetime earnings (it is measured 1–2 years after completion, early career), not proof the major caused the outcome (who enters a field differs by field — selection, not causation), and not a "best majors" ranking: earnings are one dimension of worth, not the whole of it. Teaching and social work pay far less than the fields at the top of this list and matter enormously. Earnings cover federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report.

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release). · explore this field on the official Scorecard