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Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

US occupation · SOC 25-1041

Job titles people report: Agriculture Instructor, Agriculture Professor, Agronomy Professor, Animal Science Professor, Associate Professor, Horticulture Instructor, Horticulture Professor, Instructor, Plant Science Professor, Professor

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$98,700
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$66,410 – $126,850
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
8,920
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+2.9%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
800
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Doctoral or professional degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Teach courses in the agricultural sciences. Includes teachers of agronomy, dairy sciences, fisheries management, horticultural sciences, poultry sciences, range management, and agricultural soil conservation. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Main tasks

  • Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
  • Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
  • Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
  • Supervise laboratory sessions and field work and coordinate laboratory operations.
  • Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as crop production, plant genetics, and soil chemistry.
  • Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Doctoral or professional degree
O*NET Job Zone 5
Extensive preparation
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 51 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Education

  • Agricultural Teacher Education
  • Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Education at the Major step.

Where many students take education

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Agriculture

  • Agriculture, General
  • Agricultural Business and Management, General
  • Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations
  • Agricultural Economics
  • Farm/Farm and Ranch Management
  • Agricultural/Farm Supplies Retailing and Wholesaling
  • Agricultural Business and Management, Other
  • Agricultural Mechanization, General
41 more programmes
  • Agricultural Power Machinery Operation
  • Agricultural Mechanization, Other
  • Agricultural Production Operations, General
  • Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Production
  • Aquaculture
  • Crop Production
  • Horse Husbandry/Equine Science and Management
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture
  • Agricultural Production Operations, Other
  • Agricultural and Food Products Processing
  • Animal Training
  • Equestrian/Equine Studies
  • Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General
  • Ornamental Horticulture
  • Greenhouse Operations and Management
  • Landscaping and Groundskeeping
  • Plant Nursery Operations and Management
  • Turf and Turfgrass Management
  • International Agriculture
  • Animal Sciences, General
  • Agricultural Animal Breeding
  • Animal Health
  • Animal Nutrition
  • Dairy Science
  • Livestock Management
  • Poultry Science
  • Animal Sciences, Other
  • Food Science
  • Viticulture and Enology
  • Food Science and Technology, Other
  • Plant Sciences, General
  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Horticultural Science
  • Agricultural and Horticultural Plant Breeding
  • Plant Protection and Integrated Pest Management
  • Range Science and Management
  • Plant Sciences, Other
  • Soil Science and Agronomy, General
  • Soil Chemistry and Physics
  • Soil Microbiology
  • Soil Sciences, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Agriculture at the Major step.

Where many students take agriculture

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk