diff --git a/mesa/datacollection.py b/mesa/datacollection.py
index dfa4fa92d86..18360891efa 100644
--- a/mesa/datacollection.py
+++ b/mesa/datacollection.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@
     * For collecting agent-level variables, agents must have a unique_id
 
 """
-from collections import defaultdict
+import itertools
+from operator import attrgetter
 import pandas as pd
 
 
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ def __init__(self, model_reporters=None, agent_reporters=None, tables=None):
         self.agent_reporters = {}
 
         self.model_vars = {}
-        self.agent_vars = {}
+        self._agent_records = {}
         self.tables = {}
 
         if model_reporters is not None:
@@ -123,7 +124,6 @@ def _new_agent_reporter(self, name, reporter):
         if type(reporter) is str:
             reporter = self._make_attribute_collector(reporter)
         self.agent_reporters[name] = reporter
-        self.agent_vars[name] = []
 
     def _new_table(self, table_name, table_columns):
         """ Add a new table that objects can write to.
@@ -136,6 +136,21 @@ def _new_table(self, table_name, table_columns):
         new_table = {column: [] for column in table_columns}
         self.tables[table_name] = new_table
 
+    def _record_agents(self, model):
+        """ Record agents data in a mapping of functions and agents. """
+        rep_funcs = self.agent_reporters.values()
+        if all([rep.__name__ == 'attr_collector' for rep in rep_funcs]):
+            prefix = ['model.schedule.steps', 'unique_id']
+            attributes = [func.attribute_name for func in rep_funcs]
+            get_reports = attrgetter(*prefix + attributes)
+        else:
+            def get_reports(agent):
+                prefix = (agent.model.schedule.steps, agent.unique_id)
+                reports = tuple(rep(agent) for rep in rep_funcs)
+                return prefix + reports
+        agent_records = map(get_reports, model.schedule.agents)
+        return agent_records
+
     def collect(self, model):
         """ Collect all the data for the given model object. """
         if self.model_reporters:
@@ -143,11 +158,8 @@ def collect(self, model):
                 self.model_vars[var].append(reporter(model))
 
         if self.agent_reporters:
-            for var, reporter in self.agent_reporters.items():
-                agent_records = []
-                for agent in model.schedule.agents:
-                    agent_records.append((agent.unique_id, reporter(agent)))
-                self.agent_vars[var].append(agent_records)
+            agent_records = self._record_agents(model)
+            self._agent_records[model.schedule.steps] = list(agent_records)
 
     def add_table_row(self, table_name, row, ignore_missing=False):
         """ Add a row dictionary to a specific table.
@@ -176,6 +188,14 @@ def _make_attribute_collector(attr):
         Create a function which collects the value of a named attribute
         '''
 
+        def attribute_name(attr):
+            """Decorator to add attribute name as a function attribute."""
+            def wrapper(func):
+                func.attribute_name = attr
+                return func
+            return wrapper
+
+        @attribute_name(attr)
         def attr_collector(obj):
             return getattr(obj, attr)
 
@@ -197,15 +217,15 @@ def get_agent_vars_dataframe(self):
         columns for tick and agent_id.
 
         """
-        data = defaultdict(dict)
-        for var, records in self.agent_vars.items():
-            for step, entries in enumerate(records):
-                for entry in entries:
-                    agent_id = entry[0]
-                    val = entry[1]
-                    data[(step, agent_id)][var] = val
-        df = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(data, orient="index")
-        df.index.names = ["Step", "AgentID"]
+        all_records = itertools.chain.from_iterable(
+            self._agent_records.values())
+        rep_names = [rep_name for rep_name in self.agent_reporters]
+
+        df = pd.DataFrame.from_records(
+            data=all_records,
+            columns=["Step", "AgentID"] + rep_names,
+            )
+        df = df.set_index(["Step", "AgentID"])
         return df
 
     def get_table_dataframe(self, table_name):
diff --git a/tests/test_datacollector.py b/tests/test_datacollector.py
index 6d572115155..1a6a748a808 100644
--- a/tests/test_datacollector.py
+++ b/tests/test_datacollector.py
@@ -83,18 +83,16 @@ def test_model_vars(self):
         for element in data_collector.model_vars["model_value"]:
             assert element == 100
 
-    def test_agent_vars(self):
+    def test_agent_records(self):
         '''
         Test agent-level variable collection.
         '''
         data_collector = self.model.datacollector
-        assert len(data_collector.agent_vars["value"]) == 7
-        assert len(data_collector.agent_vars["value2"]) == 7
-        for var in ["value", "value2"]:
-            for step in data_collector.agent_vars[var]:
-                assert len(step) == 10
-                for record in step:
-                    assert len(record) == 2
+        assert len(data_collector._agent_records) == 7
+        for step, records in data_collector._agent_records.items():
+            assert len(records) == 10
+            for values in records:
+                assert len(values) == 4
 
     def test_table_rows(self):
         '''