Zoologists 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, zoologists rate their career happiness 4.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 6% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy zoologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Horse trainer | 4.2 | $24k |
| Equestrian | 4.1 | $22k |
| Zoologist | 4.1 | $49k |
| Marine biologist | 4.1 | $32k |
| Animal breeder | 4.0 | $19k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are zoologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do zoologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as zoologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are zoologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are zoologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are zoologists happy with their salary?
Zoologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Zoologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked zoologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
212 zoologists
24% of zoologists rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of zoologists rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of zoologists rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of zoologists rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of zoologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do zoologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, zoologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, zoologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become zoologists.
We asked zoologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
219 zoologists
41% of zoologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
29% of zoologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of zoologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
6% of zoologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of zoologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as zoologists?
Zoologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of zoologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked zoologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
233 zoologists
50% of zoologists rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of zoologists rated their career fit 4 stars
10% of zoologists rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of zoologists rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of zoologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a zoologist’s work environment?
As a whole, zoologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of zoologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a zoologist.
We asked zoologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
230 zoologists
40% of zoologists rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of zoologists rated their work environment 4 stars
14% of zoologists rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of zoologists rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of zoologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are zoologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former zoologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.9/5. Most zoologists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a zoologist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked zoologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
231 zoologists
35% of zoologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
31% of zoologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of zoologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
7% of zoologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of zoologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars