By: Tyler Lahusky
Average
Salaries – In General
The average
salary of an agricultural engineer, like any other career or job, depends upon a
multitude of conditions. These conditions may include things like experience
level, the company of employment, level in the company ladder, type of engineering
(within agricultural engineering), gender or location. First off, we will
discuss the average salary throughout the entire United States. In 2015, the
average salary of an agricultural engineer within the first 5 years of graduating
college was $55,000. ("Future
Student FAQs"). The average overall salary of an
intermediate level engineer was $77,000, with a range from about $55,000 to
$84,000. ("Electrical
Engineer II Salary | Salary.com") This range is primarily
based on experience level and can extend much higher when someone has a great amount
of experience. These agricultural engineers fall into the top 10% category, or
the 90th percentile. The average agricultural engineer that fell
into the 90th percentile made about $115,680 in a year. ("Agricultural Engineer Salary")
Location
and Gender
As you should no
know from my last post about the demographics of agricultural engineering,
females are not equally represented within the field. Due to this fact, females
tend to make more than male agricultural engineers. The average female
agricultural engineer made $94,058, while males made from only $35,000 to $84,000.
(Purdue University) Along with the gender gap creating a salary gap in
agricultural engineering, location plays a major factor in salary. Some states,
such as Georgia, have an extremely high average salary for agricultural
engineers at $90,000. Other states, such as Florida or Tennessee have an average
salary of $45,900 or $35,500 respectively. (Purdue University) ("Agricultural Engineer Salary")
See
the image and table below to gain a better idea of the breakdown of
agricultural engineering salaries by location.
Source: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/se172021.png
Source: http://engineer-salary.com/agricultural-engineer-salary.html
Discipline
Depending
on the discipline an agricultural engineer goes into within a company will have
minor effects on their salary. The highest paying discipline within
agricultural engineering is in the professional, scientific, and technical services
discipline at $82,720 for an intermediate level engineer. Second is manufacturing,
which is what most people think of when they hear ‘engineer’, at $74,560. Third
is management tallying in at $74,530 and lastly, public administration at
$71,910. ("Electrical
Engineer II Salary | Salary.com") There are a number of
different disciplines within agricultural engineering besides the four mentioned
here, but these four are some of the most popular. Companies themselves also
pay their employees differently. Management of any company easily came in first
as the ‘highest paying company’. The second highest paying company for
agricultural engineers was the federal government with an annual salary of $81,080
on average. ("Highest
Paying Industries for Agricultural Engineers")
Source: http://www.usawage.com/high-pay/industries-o172021.php
A
Comparison
In relation to
other engineers, agricultural engineers typically have a slightly higher
average salary. As I mentioned earlier, agricultural engineers made about $77,800
per year. ("Electrical
Engineer II Salary | Salary.com") Mechanical engineers
made approximately $76,172. Civil engineers made around $76,259, chemical
engineers about $77,951 on average, and electrical engineers made $77,763 on
average per year. ("Electrical
Engineer II Salary | Salary.com") Of these types of
engineering, only one was higher than agriculture engineering – civil engineering.
Therefore agricultural engineering is just slightly higher, on average, than
other engineering disciplines.
Sources:
"Electrical
Engineer II Salary | Salary.com." Salary.com. Recruiter. Web. 8
Oct. 2015.
"Highest
Paying Industries for Agricultural Engineers." Highest Paying
Industries for Agricultural Engineers. USAWage, 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.
"Future Student FAQs." -
Agricultural & Biological Engineering. Purdue University, 2015. Web. 8
Oct. 2015.
"Bachelor of Science (BS /
BSc), Agricultural Engineering (AE) Degree Average Salary." Bachelor of
Science (BS / BSc), Agricultural Engineering (AE) Degree Salary, Average
Salaries. Payscale Inc., 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.
"Agricultural Engineer
Salary." - Wages in 50 U.S. States. Engineer-Salary.com, 2014. Web.
8 Oct. 2015.
"Electrical Engineer II Salary
| Salary.com." Salary.com. International Business Machines
Corporation, 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.
It is not very surprising that there are more males than females in this field. That being said, it is very surprising and a little interesting that female agricultural engineers are paid more than their male counterparts. I would enjoy reading a post about why that is if you ever need another topic to write about.
ReplyDelete-Casey W
From the research I've done, it seems that females are paid more in the field of agricultural engineering in order to increase the diversity of the field. If women know that they will be paid more in the field, they are more likely to enter the field as a career. I will look into this as another post to give some more information. Thanks for reading!
DeleteAppreciate it
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