Zoo educators 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, zoo educators rate their career happiness 3.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 19% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy zoo educators 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aquarist | 3.8 | $28k |
| Fish and game warden | 3.8 | $29k |
| Organic farmer | 3.8 | $24k |
| Animal caretaker | 3.7 | $3k |
| Zoo educator | 3.7 | $25k |
| Veterinarian | 3.7 | $61k |
| Dog walker | 3.7 | $2k |
| Wildlife enforcement officer | 3.6 | $56k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are zoo educators happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do zoo educators find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as zoo educators?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are zoo educator’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are zoo educators making the best use of their abilities?
Are zoo educators happy with their salary?
Zoo educators rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most zoo educators do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked zoo educators how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.4 out of 5 stars
144 zoo educators
6% of zoo educators rated their compensation 5 stars
10% of zoo educators rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of zoo educators rated their compensation 3 stars
28% of zoo educators rated their compensation 2 stars
26% of zoo educators rated their compensation 1 stars
Do zoo educators find their jobs meaningful?
On average, zoo educators rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, zoo educators have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become zoo educators.
We asked zoo educators how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
147 zoo educators
20% of zoo educators rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
33% of zoo educators rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of zoo educators rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
14% of zoo educators rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of zoo educators rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as zoo educators?
Zoo educators rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of zoo educators find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked zoo educators how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
159 zoo educators
43% of zoo educators rated their career fit 5 stars
43% of zoo educators rated their career fit 4 stars
10% of zoo educators rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of zoo educators rated their career fit 2 stars
How enjoyable is a zoo educator’s work environment?
As a whole, zoo educators rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of zoo educators enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a zoo educator.
We asked zoo educators how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
160 zoo educators
34% of zoo educators rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of zoo educators rated their work environment 4 stars
19% of zoo educators rated their work environment 3 stars
6% of zoo educators rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of zoo educators rated their work environment 1 stars
Are zoo educators making the best use of their abilities?
Former zoo educators on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most zoo educators are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked zoo educators how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
160 zoo educators
21% of zoo educators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of zoo educators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
32% of zoo educators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
18% of zoo educators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
8% of zoo educators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars