Agricultural Engineeringat University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graduates earn $62,032/yr in their first year — about 5.0% below the national Agricultural Engineering average. Base-case 10-year earnings $802K; scenarios range from $700K to $825K depending on AI disruption.
What this degree looks like at UIUC
You're looking at a program from a top-tier engineering institution, particularly renowned for its agricultural sciences. While the earnings figures might appear slightly below the national average for the field, consider the specialized nature of these roles. Many careers are situated within essential industries like precision agriculture, food processing, environmental management, or heavy equipment manufacturing (think John Deere or Caterpillar), often in regions with a lower cost of living than major tech hubs.
Regarding AI risk, agricultural engineering is at the forefront of automation, robotics, and data-driven farming. This "risk" often signals a transformation, not elimination. Your future role will likely involve designing, implementing, and managing these advanced systems – from optimizing crop yields with AI to developing autonomous farm machinery. To thrive, focus on interdisciplinary skills in data science, automation, and systems integration, and leverage UIUC's strong industry connections for internships that expose you to the cutting edge of agritech.
Three scenarios, ten years out
Each scenario is a different assumption about how AI reshapes the career paths this major feeds into. Earnings projections stack the full 10-year cumulative trajectory; scores use the same 0–100 metric as the hero, recomputed under that scenario's assumptions.
10 year projection
Year-by-year earnings under each scenario. Base case reflects BLS growth patterns applied to UIUC's starting earnings; optimistic and pessimistic adjust for AI's effect on each career path this major feeds into.
Common career destinations for this program's graduates, weighted by the school's specific occupation mix. Salary is BLS national median; AI risk is per-role task-exposure research.
Peer schools offering Agricultural Engineering
How UIUC stacks up against other schools offering this major.
Other top programs at UIUC
Other highest-scoring programs offered at UIUC, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score.
Frequently asked about Agricultural Engineering at UIUC
How does University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Agricultural Engineering program score?
This program scores 64/100, reflecting respectable but not exceptional financial outcomes for Agricultural Engineering graduates.
How vulnerable is Agricultural Engineering to AI automation?
AI won't 'replace' Agricultural Engineering careers outright, but it is likely to reduce the number of job openings. We model 45% task exposure, which compresses field employment probability in our scenarios.