Science
What you can do with Horticulture and Plant Science
Growing and improving plants, from crops to ornamentals, and the soil they need.
- Careers
- 4
- Early career
- $46,600
- Mid-career
- $79,000
- Growing fast
- 1 of 4
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 4 careers a Horticulture and Plant Science degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Horticulture and Plant Science on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Animal and Plant Sciences, the broader group it places this major in.
1 of 4 careers this degree leads to is projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034. Of those, Soil / Plant Scientist has the most openings, about 1,700 a year.
Set on Horticulture and Plant Science?
Save it as your major and PlanexAI will shape your dashboard, career matches, and study plan around it.
4 careers this degree leads to
Farmer / Agricultural Manager
$89,900Run farms, ranches and greenhouses: crops, livestock, equipment, markets and the money.
- Middle half of workers
- $66,300 to $118,860
- Growth
- Declining
- Openings a year
- 85,500
- Operations
- Agronomy Basics
- Budgeting
- Equipment
Environmental Scientist
$82,220Conduct research and advise on protecting the environment and human health.
- Middle half of workers
- $64,490 to $107,970
- Growth
- About average
- Openings a year
- 8,500
Work-life68Remote42Satisfaction75- Environmental Assessment
- Data Analysis
- GIS
- Fieldwork
Soil / Plant Scientist
$78,850Research how crops and plants grow and how to keep soil productive, for farms, industry and the environment.
- Middle half of workers
- $61,660 to $103,740
- Growth
- Faster than average
- Openings a year
- 1,700
- Research
- Lab Techniques
- Data Analysis
- Agronomy
Agricultural Technician
$49,630Support agricultural research and production by collecting samples, running tests and maintaining crops and animals.
- Middle half of workers
- $40,950 to $63,630
- Growth
- About average
- Openings a year
- 2,900
- Lab Techniques
- Fieldwork
- Record Keeping
- Equipment
Related majors
Set on Horticulture and Plant Science?
Save it as your major and PlanexAI will shape your dashboard, career matches, and study plan around it.
Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.