Graduates earn a median $25,194 two years after finishing, more than 4% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 104 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.
On earnings alone this is among the lowest-paying majors at this level. That does not make it a bad subject, but it does make the debt you take on for it matter more.
| # | University | 1 yr out | 2 yrs out | 3 yrs out | Graduates/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco State University cost & debt at this university → | $33,776 | $33,077 | $39,835 | — |
| 2 | Carroll University | $22,650 | $31,839 | not published | 34 |
| 3 | University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus | $27,868 | $30,771 | $35,873 | — |
| 4 | University of Connecticut-Stamford | $27,868 | $30,771 | $35,873 | — |
| 5 | University of Connecticut-Avery Point | $27,868 | $30,771 | $35,873 | — |
| 6 | University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus | $27,868 | $30,771 | $35,873 | — |
| 7 | Utah State University cost & debt at this university → | $27,362 | $30,771 | $34,724 | — |
| 8 | University of Connecticut | $27,868 | $30,771 | $35,873 | 125 |
| 9 | Texas A&M University-College Station cost & debt at this university → | $23,154 | $29,685 | $40,629 | 38 |
| 10 | University of Wyoming cost & debt at this university → | $26,044 | $28,870 | $29,789 | 68 |
| 11 | North Dakota State University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → | $21,840 | $28,816 | $36,861 | — |
| 12 | University of Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → | $27,864 | $28,381 | $36,377 | 61 |
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 Zoology & Animal Biology sits below the middle by $11,303.
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.
Tell us what you need and we will come back with the lenders that actually fund students from your country — including options with no US co-signer. No obligation, and we never charge you.
Classified by the Department of Education as Zoology/Animal Biology (CIP 2607). 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.