Animal trainers 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 trainers rate their career happiness 4.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 3% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy animal trainers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildlife rehabilitator | 4.2 | $28k |
| Animal trainer | 4.2 | $31k |
| Horse trainer | 4.2 | $24k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are animal trainers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do animal trainers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as animal trainers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are animal trainer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are animal trainers making the best use of their abilities?
Are animal trainers happy with their salary?
Animal trainers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Animal trainers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked animal trainers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
51 animal trainers
18% of animal trainers rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of animal trainers rated their compensation 4 stars
18% of animal trainers rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of animal trainers rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of animal trainers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do animal trainers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, animal trainers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, animal trainers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become animal trainers.
We asked animal trainers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
53 animal trainers
45% of animal trainers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
26% of animal trainers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
13% of animal trainers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of animal trainers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of animal trainers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as animal trainers?
Animal trainers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of animal trainers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked animal trainers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
60 animal trainers
52% of animal trainers rated their career fit 5 stars
30% of animal trainers rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of animal trainers rated their career fit 3 stars
2% of animal trainers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of animal trainers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an animal trainer’s work environment?
As a whole, animal trainers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.3/5. A solid majority of animal trainers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an animal trainer.
We asked animal trainers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
59 animal trainers
51% of animal trainers rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of animal trainers rated their work environment 4 stars
8% of animal trainers rated their work environment 3 stars
3% of animal trainers rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of animal trainers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are animal trainers making the best use of their abilities?
Former animal trainers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most animal trainers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an animal trainer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked animal trainers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
58 animal trainers
36% of animal trainers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of animal trainers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of animal trainers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
7% of animal trainers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
7% of animal trainers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars