What can you do with an animal science degree?
Where animal science graduates actually work, and how exposed those jobs are to AI. Built from ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS: 10,025 people whose bachelor's degree is in this field, aged 22-64.
Animal science is a degree whose graduates scatter. About 10.5 in 100 people with an animal sciences bachelor's degree become veterinarians, which usually means further study. Another 5.5 in 100 are farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers, 4 in 100 are veterinary technicians, 3 in 100 are veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers and 2 in 100 are animal caretakers, which we score with our pet groomer page.
About 46 in 100 work in roles we do not score, led by managers in other roles at about 4 in 100, postsecondary teaching, other agricultural workers and wholesale sales representatives. This page covers about 54% of graduates and gives no overall verdict. The figures come from Census data on about 10,000 people with an animal sciences degree, matched to the occupation pages on this site.
How exposed are animal science jobs to AI?
Only about 1 in 10 animal science graduates become veterinarians, whom we rate AI-resistant despite the paperwork: AI radiology and paperwork tools are in thousands of clinics, but they act as a second opinion while the treating veterinarian stays legally accountable. Veterinary technicians, veterinary assistants and animal caretakers rate Safe, while farm managers, about 5.
5% of graduates, rate At risk because no license protects the title and the work is mostly desk and coordination tasks; autonomous tractors are in commercial use but automate equipment operation, a different job. About 46% of graduates work in roles we do not score, so we give no overall verdict.
These figures cover the 54% of animal science graduates who work in occupations we score. The other 46% work in roles we do not cover (largest: Other Managers; Postsecondary Teachers; Other Agricultural Workers). Signal 01 averages each job's own structural exposure, weighted by how many graduates work there; it describes tasks, not whether jobs will disappear.
Where animal science graduates actually work
These 10 occupations account for 38% of animal science graduates. The rest are spread across many smaller occupations, each under 1%. Graduates often work outside the field.
Careers next door to animal science, least exposed first
Curated related careers of the main occupations above, ranked by structural exposure (lowest first), so you can see which neighboring routes are less and more exposed.
What the research says about AI and animal science graduates
The Census Bureau working paper (September 2026) rates animal sciences among its lowest-exposure majors, with 2024 employment and earnings results above the average major's, and finds its sharpest declines in software-related degrees. The paper's estimate for animal sciences counts about 12,000 graduates from 2018 to 2022, with an exposure score about 1. 3 standard deviations below the average major.
The studies disagree about how much of any graduate weakness is due to AI, and the Census paper does not report outcomes for veterinary or farm jobs.
Read the full evidence review: what the studies say about AI and graduate jobs →
How this page was built
Graduate shares come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS), field of degree "Animal Sciences" (code 1103), weighted to the population. Each occupation we cover is scored with the numbers already published on its own page on this site, then averaged by graduate share. Occupations without a page are shown but never scored. Graduates aged 22-64 are included, so the mix reflects the whole working-age group, not only recent graduates. Sources: www2.census.gov, www.bls.gov. This page is general information, not career or educational advice.