How much do environmental science and conservation graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 16 Pennsylvania environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs is $36,441 in the first year after graduating and $54,166 five years after.

Environmental Science and Conservation (Bachelor's) Programs in Pennsylvania, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Q: Which Pennsylvania environmental science and conservation program has the lowest debt?

Dickinson College reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,402, with first-year pay of $27,663.

Q: How many environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs are in Pennsylvania?

16 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 12 of them also report federal debt.

16 programs report first-year pay
12 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Natural Resources Conservation and Research

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Pennsylvania environmental science and conservation bachelor's program pays its graduates $36,441 in their first year, $2,465 more than the national median. Villanova University reports the highest first-year pay ($56,549), and Dickinson College the lowest median debt ($18,402).

Median first-year pay$36,441National $33,976

Median pay after 5 years$54,166National $54,967

Median federal debt$26,125National $23,078

Debt-to-earnings69%National 67%

All 16 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Villanova UniversityVillanova · private nonprofit	$56,549	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
2	Bucknell UniversityLewisburg · private nonprofit	$46,698	Not reported	$26,798	57%
3	Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaKutztown · public	$40,477	$54,166	$26,250	65%
4	Delaware Valley UniversityDoylestown · private nonprofit	$39,903	Not reported	$27,000	68%
5	Shippensburg University of PennsylvaniaShippensburg · public	$39,068	$63,079	$24,125	62%
6	Commonwealth University of PennsylvaniaBloomsburg · public	$38,183	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
7	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$37,330	$59,675	$26,000	70%
8	Franklin and Marshall CollegeLancaster · private nonprofit	$36,536	Not reported	$22,888	63%
9	Pennsylvania Western UniversityCalifornia · public	$36,345	$46,478	Not reported	Not reported
10	Juniata CollegeHuntingdon · private nonprofit	$33,069	$37,810	$27,000	82%
11	Temple UniversityPhiladelphia · public	$31,817	$60,568	$25,000	79%
12	Drexel UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$30,835	$66,109	$28,956	94%
13	Allegheny CollegeMeadville · private nonprofit	$30,552	$50,086	$27,000	88%
14	Gettysburg CollegeGettysburg · private nonprofit	$29,428	$52,647	$24,889	85%
15	Dickinson CollegeCarlisle · private nonprofit	$27,663	$65,376	$18,402	67%
16	King's CollegeWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$22,080	$50,859	Not reported	Not reported

Villanova University, Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Western University, and King's College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania environmental science and conservation program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 12 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Villanova University$56,549
Bucknell University$46,698
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania$40,477
Delaware Valley University$39,903
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania$39,068

Lowest median debt

Dickinson College$18,402
Franklin and Marshall College$22,888
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania$24,125
Gettysburg College$24,889
Temple University$25,000

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to environmental science and conservation, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Compliance Officers

$85,580

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 19,810 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $49,910Top 10%: $130,990

Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health

$76,110

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 3,020 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $50,660Top 10%: $125,520

Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health

$60,650

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 1,180 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.

Bottom 10%: $45,530Top 10%: $97,390

Forest and Conservation Technicians

$57,370

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 420 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.

Bottom 10%: $44,950Top 10%: $76,940

Common questions

Villanova University in Villanova reports the highest median first-year pay, $56,549.

Environmental Science and Conservation (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked247 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Pennsylvania rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the environmental science and conservation bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024