Transportation planners are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, transportation planners rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy transportation planners are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Supply chain manager | 2.8 | $125k |
| Budget analyst | 2.8 | $80k |
| Quality control inspector | 2.8 | $49k |
| Rail transportation worker | 2.8 | $61k |
| Transportation planner | 2.8 | $84k |
| Mail superintendent | 2.7 | $80k |
| Product safety engineer | 2.7 | $99k |
| Logistician | 2.7 | $77k |
| Meter reader | 2.7 | $46k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are transportation planners happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do transportation planners find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as transportation planners?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are transportation planner’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are transportation planners making the best use of their abilities?
Are transportation planners happy with their salary?
Transportation planners rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most transportation planners having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked transportation planners how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
164 transportation planners
12% of transportation planners rated their compensation 5 stars
31% of transportation planners rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of transportation planners rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of transportation planners rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of transportation planners rated their compensation 1 stars
Do transportation planners find their jobs meaningful?
On average, transportation planners rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of transportation planners struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked transportation planners how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
164 transportation planners
9% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
20% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
26% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as transportation planners?
Transportation planners rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of transportation planners find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked transportation planners how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
188 transportation planners
23% of transportation planners rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of transportation planners rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of transportation planners rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of transportation planners rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of transportation planners rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a transportation planner’s work environment?
As a whole, transportation planners rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked transportation planners how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
187 transportation planners
13% of transportation planners rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of transportation planners rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of transportation planners rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of transportation planners rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of transportation planners rated their work environment 1 stars
Are transportation planners making the best use of their abilities?
Former transportation planners on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Transportation planners tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked transportation planners how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
187 transportation planners
9% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
14% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars