Learn about the types of people who become park naturalists. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2024
56% of park naturalists work in full-time roles while 44% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a park naturalist. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming park naturalists at a ratio of 1.29 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
77% of park naturalists are female and 23% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a park naturalist and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a park naturalist and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are significantly more men interested in becoming a park naturalist than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of park naturalists are White, making up 84% of the population. The next highest segments are Black or African American and Other, making up 6% and 3% respectively.