Animal behaviorists are one of the happiest 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, animal behaviorists rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 16% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy animal behaviorists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beekeeper | 3.9 | $29k |
| Dog trainer | 3.9 | $26k |
| Aquarist | 3.8 | $28k |
| Animal caretaker | 3.7 | $3k |
| Zoo educator | 3.7 | $25k |
| Veterinarian | 3.7 | $61k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are animal behaviorists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do animal behaviorists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as animal behaviorists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are animal behaviorist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are animal behaviorists making the best use of their abilities?
Are animal behaviorists happy with their salary?
Animal behaviorists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most animal behaviorists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked animal behaviorists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
38 animal behaviorists
11% of animal behaviorists rated their compensation 5 stars
32% of animal behaviorists rated their compensation 4 stars
21% of animal behaviorists rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of animal behaviorists rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of animal behaviorists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do animal behaviorists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, animal behaviorists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.1/5. Unlike many careers, animal behaviorists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become animal behaviorists.
We asked animal behaviorists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
40 animal behaviorists
45% of animal behaviorists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
28% of animal behaviorists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of animal behaviorists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
3% of animal behaviorists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of animal behaviorists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as animal behaviorists?
Animal behaviorists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of animal behaviorists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked animal behaviorists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
45 animal behaviorists
36% of animal behaviorists rated their career fit 5 stars
38% of animal behaviorists rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of animal behaviorists rated their career fit 3 stars
2% of animal behaviorists rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of animal behaviorists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an animal behaviorist’s work environment?
As a whole, animal behaviorists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of animal behaviorists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an animal behaviorist.
We asked animal behaviorists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
46 animal behaviorists
28% of animal behaviorists rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of animal behaviorists rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of animal behaviorists rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of animal behaviorists rated their work environment 2 stars
2% of animal behaviorists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are animal behaviorists making the best use of their abilities?
Former animal behaviorists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.7/5. Most animal behaviorists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an animal behaviorist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked animal behaviorists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
45 animal behaviorists
27% of animal behaviorists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
33% of animal behaviorists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of animal behaviorists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
11% of animal behaviorists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of animal behaviorists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars