Best Farmer programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Plan, direct, or coordinate the management or operation of farms, ranches, greenhouses, aquacultural operations, nurseries, timber tracts, or other agricultural establishments.
35 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,265 people a year. The job pays a median of $99,440 in Illinois across about 120 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.
18 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 01.0601In Illinois → | 483 | 38.2% | 11 | $35,900 | $14,000 |
| 2 | CIP 01.0901In Illinois → | 219 | 17.3% | 4 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
| 3 | CIP 01.0101In Illinois → | 158 | 12.5% | 17 | $47,242 | $19,964 |
| 4 | Agricultural Production Operations, Generalmain feeder CIP 01.0301In Illinois → | 107 | 8.5% | 10 | $36,083 | $17,395 |
| 5 | CIP 01.1102In Illinois → | 65 | 5.1% | 5 | $42,861 | $20,500 |
| 6 | CIP 01.0903In Illinois → | 56 | 4.4% | 1 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
| 7 | Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Productionmain feeder CIP 01.0302In Illinois → | 46 | 3.6% | 3 | $36,083 | $17,395 |
| 8 | CIP 01.0102In Illinois → | 33 | 2.6% | 5 | $47,242 | $19,964 |
| 9 | CIP 01.0604In Illinois → | 24 | 1.9% | 4 | $35,900 | $14,000 |
| 10 | Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculturemain feeder CIP 01.0308In Illinois → | 17 | 1.3% | 4 | $36,083 | $17,395 |
| 11 | Crop Productionmain feeder CIP 01.0304In Illinois → | 16 | 1.3% | 2 | $36,083 | $17,395 |
| 12 | CIP 01.0603In Illinois → | 14 | 1.1% | 3 | $35,900 | $14,000 |
| 13 | CIP 01.0307In Illinois → | 10 | 0.8% | 1 | $36,083 | $17,395 |
| 14 | CIP 01.0999In Illinois → | 6 | 0.5% | 1 | $33,926 | $21,748 |
| 15 | CIP 01.1105In Illinois → | 5 | 0.4% | 1 | $42,861 | $20,500 |
| 16 | CIP 01.1101In Illinois → | 4 | 0.3% | 1 | $42,861 | $20,500 |
| 17 | CIP 01.0610In Illinois → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $35,900 | $14,000 |
| 18 | CIP 01.1103In Illinois → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $42,861 | $20,500 |
Top 25 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 35 schools in this state.
All 35 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Land College | Mattoon | Public | 436 | 4 |
| University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign | Champaign | Public | 293 | 3 |
| Black Hawk College | Moline | Public | 59 | 4 |
| Joliet Junior College | Joliet | Public | 45 | 4 |
| City Colleges of Chicago - Olive - Harvey College | Chicago | Public | 36 | 3 |
| John Wood Community College | Quincy | Public | 34 | 3 |
| Kaskaskia College | Centralia | Public | 31 | 2 |
| College of DuPage | Glen Ellyn | Public | 30 | 4 |
| Southwestern Illinois College | Belleville | Public | 30 | 1 |
| Southern Illinois University - Carbondale | Carbondale | Public | 29 | 3 |
| Rend Lake College | Ina | Public | 28 | 2 |
| Highland Community College | Freeport | Public | 17 | 3 |
| Illinois College | Jacksonville | Private not-for-profit | 17 | 1 |
| McHenry County College | Crystal Lake | Public | 17 | 1 |
| Illinois Central College | East Peoria | Public | 16 | 2 |
What farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $89,900. Illinois pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
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 Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers page.
How to become a Farmer
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience needed
- 5 years or more
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational 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 25 majors mapped to Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers23 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.0101Agricultural Business and Management, General
- 01.0102Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations
- 01.0104Farm/Farm and Ranch Management
- 01.0199Agricultural Business and Management, Other
- 01.0301Agricultural Production Operations, General
- 01.0302Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Production
- 01.0303Aquaculture
- 01.0304Crop Production
- 01.0306Dairy Husbandry and Production
- 01.0307Horse Husbandry/Equine Science and Management
- 01.0308Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture
- 01.0310Apiculture(no graduates reported)
- 01.0399Agricultural Production Operations, Other
- 01.0601Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General
- 01.0603Ornamental Horticulture
- 01.0604Greenhouse Operations and Management
- 01.0606Plant Nursery Operations and Management
- 01.0609Public Horticulture(no graduates reported)
- 01.0610Urban and Community Horticulture
- 01.0901Animal Sciences, General
- 01.0902Agricultural Animal Breeding
- 01.0903Animal Health
- 01.0904Animal Nutrition
- 01.0905Dairy Science
- 01.0906Livestock Management
Common questions
Answers for people weighing farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become a Farmer?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General, which awarded 483 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 38.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Farmer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 18 programs to this occupation. The largest are Applied Horticulture and Horticultural Business Services, Animal Sciences, Agricultural Production Operations, Agricultural Business and Management, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 1,265 people a year in Illinois.
How much do farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers earn in Illinois?+
The median is $99,440 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.6% above the U.S. median of $89,900. 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 farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers growing?+
BLS projects a -1.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 85,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
35 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 18 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 farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Farm Manager, Ranch Manager, Greenhouse Manager, Aquaculture Director among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-9013.
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
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