Environmental consultants 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, environmental consultants rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 19% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy environmental consultants 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meteorologist | 3.2 | $43k |
| Arborist | 3.1 | $47k |
| Urban planner | 3.1 | $78k |
| Cartographer | 3.1 | $69k |
| Environmental engineer | 2.9 | $97k |
| Environmental consultant | 2.8 | $77k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are environmental consultants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do environmental consultants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as environmental consultants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are environmental consultant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are environmental consultants making the best use of their abilities?
Are environmental consultants happy with their salary?
Environmental consultants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most environmental consultants having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked environmental consultants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
143 environmental consultants
11% of environmental consultants rated their compensation 5 stars
25% of environmental consultants rated their compensation 4 stars
32% of environmental consultants rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of environmental consultants rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of environmental consultants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do environmental consultants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, environmental consultants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most environmental consultants aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked environmental consultants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
145 environmental consultants
11% of environmental consultants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
23% of environmental consultants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
18% of environmental consultants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
28% of environmental consultants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
20% of environmental consultants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as environmental consultants?
Environmental consultants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of environmental consultants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked environmental consultants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
174 environmental consultants
21% of environmental consultants rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of environmental consultants rated their career fit 4 stars
28% of environmental consultants rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of environmental consultants rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of environmental consultants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an environmental consultant’s work environment?
As a whole, environmental consultants 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 environmental consultants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
177 environmental consultants
14% of environmental consultants rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of environmental consultants rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of environmental consultants rated their work environment 3 stars
20% of environmental consultants rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of environmental consultants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are environmental consultants making the best use of their abilities?
Former environmental consultants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Environmental consultants tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked environmental consultants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
179 environmental consultants
12% of environmental consultants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
20% of environmental consultants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of environmental consultants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
25% of environmental consultants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
14% of environmental consultants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars