Agricultural Inspectors
SOC 45-2011 · 2024-2034
Inspect agricultural commodities, processing equipment, and facilities, and fish and logging operations, to ensure compliance with regulations and laws governing health, quality, and safety.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $55,073per year
- Projected openings
- 4,230
- Projected change
- +3.7%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Speaking
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $97,154 | 70 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $65,735 | 700 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $59,581 | 140 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $59,036 | 400 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $55,659 | 40 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $48,287 | 160 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $48,073 | 40 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $47,362 | 330 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $45,787 | 160 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $44,768 | 600 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $43,101 | 70 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $42,390 | 110 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $39,184
- A quarter earn under
- $43,117
- Half earn under
- $55,073
- Three quarters earn under
- $79,651
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $95,622
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction and Building Inspectors | $104,034 | 14,650 | +2.1% |
| Agricultural Technicians | $62,009 | 5,430 | +5.9% |
| Food Science Technicians | $55,717 | 7,950 | +3.9% |
| First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers | $57,805 | 23,740 | +3.3% |
| Occupational Health and Safety Technicians | $63,078 | 3,250 | +18.5% |
| Transportation Inspectors | $84,817 | 2,030 | +5% |