---
title: Is an Agricultural Engineering degree worth the debt?
cip: 1403
source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release)
sourceId: src:doe:college-scorecard:field-of-study:2026-06-10
---

# Is an Agricultural Engineering degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **23** colleges (23 of 23 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $59,306 ($56,415 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $22,437 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.38× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $54,405–$60,891 — the program you choose moves the number this much.


**How to read this:** these are MEDIANS across college programs, measured **1–2 years after completion** (early career, graduates only) — NOT lifetime earnings, and NOT comparable to a college's 10-years-after-entry figure. They cover **federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report**; small programs are suppressed. A field median is not a prediction of your outcome, not causal (who enters a field differs by field), and **not a "best majors" ranking** — earnings are one dimension of worth. Verify by field at the official College Scorecard (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/).

## By degree level

| Level | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt | Debt/pay | Colleges | Programs reporting |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bachelor's | $59,306 | $22,437 | 0.38× | 23 | 23/23 |

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

Reflects who enrolls and where, not causal program quality.

| College | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (CA) | $67,924 | $15,374 |
| Purdue University-Main Campus (IN) | $63,560 | $20,000 |
| Iowa State University (IA) | $63,141 | $20,750 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI) | $61,703 | $19,970 |
| South Dakota State University (SD) | $61,007 | — |
| University of Maryland-College Park (MD) | $60,946 | $22,437 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus (PA) | $60,836 | $27,000 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station (TX) | $60,523 | $18,000 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VA) | $60,131 | $26,125 |
| Oklahoma State University-Main Campus (OK) | $59,850 | $19,875 |
| North Carolina State University at Raleigh (NC) | $59,810 | $25,000 |
| Michigan State University (MI) | $59,306 | $28,000 |
| North Dakota State University-Main Campus (ND) | $59,019 | — |
| Kansas State University (KS) | $57,356 | $18,757 |
| University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (MN) | $56,730 | $23,742 |

RECORDED College Scorecard figures + one DERIVED ratio (debt-to-earnings). Informs and compares; not advice on what to major in. Each college's full record: `/education/<slug>`.

Structured data: `/education/fields/agricultural-engineering.jsonld` · `/education/fields/agricultural-engineering.json`