How much do farm workers actually make?

Farmworker wages are rising, but agriculture still faces a labor crisis

American agriculture is paying more for labor than ever before, yet many farmers say finding reliable workers has only become harder.

Data compiled from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Indeed salary tracking, and the American Farm Bureau Federation show a complicated reality taking shape across the farm economy. Wages for farmworkers are climbing steadily, labor shortages continue to pressure growers, and minimum wage policies are adding another layer of financial strain for producers already operating on tight margins.

According to 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, the average hourly wage for crop and livestock farmworkers are $18.20 and $18.55, respectively (by comparison Washington state’s minimum wage, the highest in the country, is $17.13 per hour). Yet agricultural work isn’t always year-round, so it’s not uncommon for an average farm worker to earn only $25,000 to $29,999 per year. Less than half of farm workers have health insurance, 20 percent of them live below the poverty line, and job security is tenuous, at best.

What results is a workforce market that is reshaping how farms operate, hire, and compete.

Farmworker pay continues to climb

Agricultural wages have increased significantly in recent years, particularly since the pandemic-era labor disruptions that tightened workforce availability nationwide.

According to USDA Economic Research Service data, inflation-adjusted wages for nonsupervisory farmworkers increased at an average annual rate of 2.1 percent from 2019 through 2023. That pace nearly doubled the long-term annual growth trend recorded between 1990 and 2023.

Salary estimates published by Indeed show farmworker compensation varying by region and specialty, though many positions now routinely exceed historic agricultural wage norms. Still, these wages trail the broader U.S. economy. Data shows that even with recent gains, agricultural workers continue to earn substantially less than employees in nonfarm industries.

Looking at the 2023 comparison year, USDA data found that nonsupervisory nonfarm workers averaged $28.93 per hour, compared to the $17.55 hourly average for agricultural workers. That means farmworkers earned roughly 61 percent of what comparable nonfarm employees made.

The wage gap helps explain why agriculture continues to struggle attracting domestic labor, especially in physically demanding seasonal jobs. Competing industries such as construction, warehousing, transportation, and manufacturing often offer higher pay and steadier hours.

Labor shortages remain a defining issue

Higher wages alone have not solved agriculture’s labor challenges.

USDA researchers noted that recent wage acceleration coincided with producer reports that workers were “harder than usual to find.” That labor scarcity has affected farms across multiple sectors, particularly fruit, vegetable, dairy, and specialty crop operations that rely heavily on manual labor.

The issue extends beyond wages.

Farm employers continue facing challenges tied to housing availability, transportation, seasonal workforce reliability, immigration policy uncertainty, and increasingly competitive hiring conditions.

Many producers say labor shortages are forcing operational changes that include reducing acreage, shifting crop selections, investing in automation, or increasing reliance on H-2A guestworker programs.

Market forces are driving wages higher than policy alone

One of the more important findings across the data is that many agricultural workers already earn above minimum wage thresholds. That matters because it suggests labor market competition, not just government policy, is fueling wage growth.

Growers are often paying more simply because they must in order to recruit and retain workers in a tight labor environment.

For agriculture, the challenge moving forward may not be whether wages continue rising. The larger question is whether farm profitability can keep pace.

This article was prepared with the assistance of automated tools and human research and verified by our editorial team.

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