Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Food Science and Technology degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $42,682 two years after finishing, more than 59% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 78 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

C

The verdict on the money

It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label.

Median earnings $42,682 2 years after finishing
Typical range $38,289–$49,175 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$3,162 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 1,110 78 programmes

Where a Food Science and Technology degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Kansas State University cost & debt at this university → $54,044 $59,045 $53,128 38
2 University of Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → $50,564 $58,673 $62,948 17
3 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → $51,489 $52,733 not published 31
4 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo cost & debt at this university → $46,002 $52,107 $69,000 81
5 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → $49,091 $51,690 $61,782 32
6 Ohio State University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → $48,777 $51,106 $54,408 15
7 University of Arkansas not published $49,683 not published 9
8 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities $42,584 $49,370 $53,162 17
9 University of Massachusetts-Amherst cost & debt at this university → $45,674 $49,175 $62,102 14
10 California State Polytechnic University-Pomona $46,124 $48,667 $58,455 31
11 Delaware Valley University $38,863 $48,041 not published 6
12 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University $48,390 $47,846 $45,790 17

What this figure does and does not tell you

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median bachelor's major in this dataset reports $36,497, so Food Science and Technology sits above the middle by $6,185.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Study Food Science and Technology Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

MSc Food Science and Technology Engineering — University of Szeged

Majors that pay more at this level Closest first — useful if you are still choosing.

Homeland Security — $43,240 Mathematics — $43,687 International Business — $44,316 Architectural Engineering Technology — $44,356 Air Transportation — $44,463 Human Resources Management and Services — $45,061

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Food Science and Technology: the questions people ask

How much do Food Science and Technology graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $42,682 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 31 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $46,002.
Is a Food Science and Technology degree worth it?
It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label. The median graduate earns $3,162 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Food Science and Technology?
Half of US programmes report medians between $38,289 and $49,175. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Food Science and Technology each year?
About 1,110 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 78 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.
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Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.