Best Animal Scientist programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Conduct research in the genetics, nutrition, reproduction, growth, and development of domestic farm.
11 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 544 people a year. The job pays a median of $47,930 in Illinois across about — jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
5 programs in Illinois that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Illinois page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 01.0000In Illinois → | 251 | 46.1% | 9 | $39,350 | $20,340 |
| 2 | Animal Sciences, Generalmain feeder CIP 01.0901In Illinois → | 219 | 40.3% | 4 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
| 3 | Animal Healthmain feeder CIP 01.0903In Illinois → | 56 | 10.3% | 1 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
| 4 | CIP 01.8108In Illinois → | 12 | 2.2% | 1 | $30,855 | $21,335 |
| 5 | Animal Sciences, Othermain feeder CIP 01.0999In Illinois → | 6 | 1.1% | 1 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
Top 11 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 11 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 4 feeder programs | 251 | Animal Sciences, General | $30,187 | 85% | — | 42% |
| 2 | Illinois State University Normal, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 117 | Agriculture, General | $47,295 | 65% | — | 88% |
| 3 | Western Illinois University Macomb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 62 | Agriculture, General | $48,509 | 45% | — | 71% |
| 4 | Kaskaskia College Centralia, IL Public · 2 feeder programs | 56 | Agriculture, General | — | 49% | — | — |
| 5 | Southern Illinois University - Carbondale Carbondale, IL Public · 2 feeder programs | 34 | Animal Sciences, General | $30,706 | 62% | — | 87% |
| 6 | Illinois Central College East Peoria, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Agriculture, General | — | 49% | — | — |
| 7 | Stautzenberger College - Rockford Career College Rockford, IL Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Animal Sciences, Other | $20,690 | 66% | $20,078 | — |
| 8 | John Wood Community College Quincy, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Animal Sciences, General | — | 49% | — | — |
| 9 | Black Hawk College Moline, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Agriculture, General | — | 40% | — | — |
| 10 | Kankakee Community College Kankakee, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Agriculture, General | — | 32% | — | — |
| 11 | Heartland Community College Normal, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Agriculture, General | — | 54% | — | — |
All 11 schools in Illinois
Every school in Illinois with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign | Champaign | Public | 251 | 4 |
| Illinois State University | Normal | Public | 117 | 1 |
| Western Illinois University | Macomb | Public | 62 | 1 |
| Kaskaskia College | Centralia | Public | 56 | 2 |
| Southern Illinois University - Carbondale | Carbondale | Public | 34 | 2 |
| Illinois Central College | East Peoria | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Stautzenberger College - Rockford Career College | Rockford | Private for-profit | 6 | 1 |
| John Wood Community College | Quincy | Public | 5 | 1 |
| Black Hawk College | Moline | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Kankakee Community College | Kankakee | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Heartland Community College | Normal | Public | 1 | 1 |
What animal scientists earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $68,940. Illinois pays below the national figure.
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Animal Scientists page.
How to become a Animal Scientist
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
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).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Illinois
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 20 majors mapped to Animal Scientists17 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.0000Agriculture, General
- 01.0310Apiculture(no graduates reported)
- 01.0901Animal Sciences, General
- 01.0902Agricultural Animal Breeding
- 01.0903Animal Health
- 01.0904Animal Nutrition
- 01.0905Dairy Science
- 01.0907Poultry Science
- 01.0999Animal Sciences, Other
- 01.1106Range Science and Management
- 01.8103Large Animal/Food Animal and Equine Surgery and Medicine
- 01.8105Veterinary Anatomy(no graduates reported)
- 01.8106Veterinary Infectious Diseases
- 01.8107Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology
- 01.8108Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology
- 01.8109Veterinary Physiology
- 01.8110Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health
- 01.8111Veterinary Toxicology and Pharmacology(no graduates reported)
- 01.8199Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Other
- 30.3401Anthrozoology
Common questions
Answers for people weighing animal scientists programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become an Animal Scientist?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Agriculture, General, which awarded 251 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 46.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Animal Scientist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Animal Sciences, Agriculture, Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences. Together they graduate about 544 people a year in Illinois.
How much do animal scientists earn in Illinois?+
The median is $47,930 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 30.5% below the U.S. median of $68,940. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for animal scientists growing?+
BLS projects a +5.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
11 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do animal scientists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Animal Scientist, Research Scientist, Animal Nutritionist, Beef Cattle Nutritionist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-1011.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card