Biologists are about average in terms of happiness.
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, biologists rate their career happiness 3.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 42% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy biologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Biochemical engineer | 3.5 | $116k |
| Soil and plant scientist | 3.4 | $17k |
| Natural sciences manager | 3.4 | $154k |
| Epidemiologist | 3.4 | $73k |
| Hydrologist | 3.4 | $79k |
| Biologist | 3.3 | $31k |
| Biostatistician | 3.3 | $102k |
| Biochemist | 3.3 | $84k |
| Geospatial information scientist | 3.3 | $90k |
| Geologist | 3.3 | $84k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are biologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do biologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as biologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are biologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are biologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are biologists happy with their salary?
Biologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Biologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked biologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
1325 biologists
13% of biologists rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of biologists rated their compensation 4 stars
31% of biologists rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of biologists rated their compensation 2 stars
17% of biologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do biologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, biologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked biologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
1360 biologists
20% of biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
16% of biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
13% of biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as biologists?
Biologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of biologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked biologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1520 biologists
28% of biologists rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of biologists rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of biologists rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of biologists rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of biologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a biologist’s work environment?
As a whole, biologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of biologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a biologist.
We asked biologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
1500 biologists
22% of biologists rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of biologists rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of biologists rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of biologists rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of biologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are biologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former biologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most biologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked biologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
1515 biologists
21% of biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
28% of biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
16% of biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
7% of biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars