What Agricultural Engineering Graduates Earn
How much do Agricultural Engineering bachelor's graduates earn?
One year out, the median bachelor's graduate in Agricultural Engineering earns $71,101; five years out, $91,160. The figures pool 961 graduates counted at the first horizon, and the median debt carried out of school is $21,500.
Earnings first, debt second, method in the open: the Agricultural Engineering page of the degree earnings branch, built from 38 bachelor's programs in the October 2026 Scorecard release.
Updated November 5, 2026
Median earnings at 1, 4, and 5 years (College Scorecard)
Nothing on this page is a survey response or a recruiter's claim: the $71,101 year-one median and the $91,160 year-five median for Agricultural Engineering come from federal earnings records pooled across 38 bachelor's programs. The headline median weights programs by graduates counted (961 at year one); the second column is the unweighted median program, printed so the method stays visible.
| Horizon | Median earnings (graduate-weighted) | Median program (unweighted) | Graduates counted | Share earning above the high-school threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year after graduation | $71,101 | $72,121 | 961 | 56.2% |
| 4 years after graduation | $86,306 | $85,141 | 1,135 | n/p |
| 5 years after graduation | $91,160 | $89,799 | 1,028 | 60.4% |
Five years out, the median graduate earns $91,160, which is $20,059 more than the year-one median of $71,101 (28% growth). Set against the median field overall ($45,010 at year one, $65,763 at year five), this field starts above the pack and ends above it.
One more cut of the year-one data: Pell recipients in Agricultural Engineering post a median of $65,259, non-recipients $72,501. That $7,242 gap is the distance between two different student populations studying under one field name, and it narrows or widens by institution, which the program table below hints at.
Inside its own CIP family, Agricultural Engineering ranks 15 of 17 published bachelor's fields by five-year earnings; the family median at that horizon is $97,669. Its closest sibling is Civil Engineering at $90,385, below this field's $91,160. Family comparisons strip out the broad field effect and leave the specific program choice exposed.
Ranked across all 182 published fields, Agricultural Engineering stands number 30 by five-year earnings and number 27 by first-year earnings, and number 110 from the lowest median debt. Those three ranks together are the field's fingerprint: high earn rank with a low debt rank is the combination students are actually shopping for, and this field's spread between them is 80 places.
The debt side of the same degree
Debt first, because earnings get the headlines: $21,500 is the median federal loan balance at graduation in Agricultural Engineering, pooled from 18 reporting programs. Against year-one earnings of $71,101 that balance is 30% of a year's gross pay, roughly 3.6 months of it. The standard 10-year repayment at 6.52% (the 2026-27 undergraduate Direct Loan rate) runs $244 a month and $7,822 in total interest. Your own balance and rate belong in the student loan payoff calculator; the degree-level verdict belongs in the college ROI calculator and the college major ROI calculator.
Where graduates of this field earn the most
One field, many markets: the five-year median for Agricultural Engineering is $91,160 nationally, yet the strongest programs below run far ahead of it. The ranking keeps a 30-graduate floor under every entry, and Cornell University heads the list at $104,635.
| Institution | Median earnings, 5 years | Median earnings, 1 year | Median debt | Graduates counted (5yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornell University | $104,635 | $74,548 | n/p | 53 |
| University of Maryland-College Park | $100,524 | $78,885 | $21,500 | 56 |
| Iowa State University | $93,410 | $74,047 | $18,750 | 66 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | $92,344 | $73,824 | $27,000 | 50 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | $92,298 | $70,081 | $26,157 | 59 |
High program medians concentrate in high-wage metros and selective intakes, so read $104,635 as a market fact before reading it as a quality verdict. Costs for the same programs are checkable in the degree cost calculator and the net price estimator.
Two more facts about the shape of this field: the five highest-paying programs in the table account for only 27.6% of the 1,028 graduates counted at five years, so the top of the table is a thin slice and not the field's center; and the leading program's five-year median of $104,635 sits 15% above the national field median of $91,160. Its graduates' debt figure is not published, one of the gaps this page leaves visible rather than filling.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Agricultural Engineering graduates earn?
The national median is $71,101 one year after graduation and $91,160 five years after, across the 22 bachelor's programs reporting 1-year earnings to College Scorecard (October 2026 release), weighted by graduates counted.
How much debt do Agricultural Engineering graduates carry?
The median cumulative federal loan debt at graduation is $21,500. On a standard 10-year plan at 6.52% that is $244 a month and $7,822 of interest in total.
How were the Agricultural Engineering national figures computed?
Scorecard publishes one median per program; this page takes the median of those program medians weighted by each program's graduates counted (961 people at year one), and prints the unweighted median program beside it. The field cleared a publication bar of at least 10 programs reporting at every horizon.
Is a degree in Agricultural Engineering worth it?
The inputs are on this page: $91,160 median earnings at year five against $21,500 median debt. The verdict depends on your actual cost, so run your numbers through the college ROI calculator and the college major ROI calculator.