Best degree programs for Agricultural Inspectors, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 17 schools train Agricultural Inspectors. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $49,940 median wage, 14,410 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 17 schools train agricultural inspectors, graduating 187 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Agricultural and Food Products Processing. The job pays a median of $49,940 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About agricultural inspectors
Inspect agricultural commodities, processing equipment, and facilities, and fish and logging operations, to ensure compliance with regulations and laws governing health, quality, and safety.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agricultural and Food Products Processingmain feeder CIP 01.0401 | 187 | 100.0% | 17 | $48,505 | $23,250 |
Top 17 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What agricultural inspectors earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansaslimited | $51,630 | 190 | 1.39× | 2 | 52 |
| North Carolinalimited | $47,760 | 290 | 0.64× | 1 | 33 |
| Texaslimited | $49,940 | 590 | 0.45× | 2 | 25 |
| Iowalimited | $49,600 | 560 | 3.87× | 1 | 16 |
| Ohiolimited | $69,280 | 210 | 0.41× | 2 | 14 |
| Michiganmoderate | $65,730 | 320 | 0.79× | 3 | 9 |
| Indianalimited | $48,560 | 480 | 1.63× | 1 | 4 |
| Washingtonlimited | $62,880 | 450 | 1.36× | 1 | 4 |
| Minnesotalimited | $77,150 | 180 | 0.67× | 1 | 3 |
| Illinoislimited | $62,000 | 470 | 0.83× | 1 | 2 |
| New Yorklimited | $73,920 | 340 | 0.38× | 1 | 1 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Inspect food products and processing procedures to determine whether products are safe to eat.
- Interpret and enforce government acts and regulations and explain required standards to agricultural workers.
- Inspect agricultural commodities or related operations, as well as fish or logging operations, for compliance with laws and regulations governing health, quality, and safety.
- Label and seal graded products and issue official grading certificates.
- Monitor the operations and sanitary conditions of slaughtering or meat processing plants.
- Take emergency actions, such as closing production facilities, if product safety is compromised.
- Verify that transportation and handling procedures meet regulatory requirements.
- Inspect the cleanliness and practices of establishment employees.
Skills
- Monitoring3.8
- Active Listening3.8
- Reading Comprehension3.8
- Critical Thinking3.6
- Speaking3.5
- Active Learning3.3
- Writing3.1
- Learning Strategies2.9
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service3.5
- Administration and Management3.4
- Law and Government3.3
- Administrative3.3
- Mathematics3.2
- Public Safety and Security3.2
Abilities
- Problem Sensitivity4.0
- Near Vision3.9
- Inductive Reasoning3.9
- Deductive Reasoning3.9
- Oral Comprehension3.9
- Oral Expression3.8
Core activities
- Documenting/Recording Information4.5
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.5
- Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards4.4
- Getting Information4.3
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.3
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Agricultural Inspector
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Agricultural Inspectors1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.0401Agricultural and Food Products Processing
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an Agricultural Inspector?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Agricultural and Food Products Processing, which awarded 187 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Agricultural Inspector?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Agricultural and Food Products Processing. Together they graduate about 187 people a year.
How much do agricultural inspectors earn?+
The median is $49,940 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $37,020 at the 10th percentile to $79,580 at the 90th. 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 agricultural inspectors growing?+
BLS projects a +1.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 2,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
17 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 agricultural inspectors work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Inspector, Brand Inspector, Grain Inspector, Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 45-2011.
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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