Aquarists 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, aquarists rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 17% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy aquarists 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
Beekeeper
3.9
$29k
Dog trainer
3.9
$26k
Rancher
3.9
$10k
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

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are aquarists happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do aquarists find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as aquarists?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are aquarist’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are aquarists making the best use of their abilities?

Are aquarists happy with their salary?

Aquarists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Aquarists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked aquarists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

85 aquarists

5 Star
16%

16% of aquarists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
13%

13% of aquarists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of aquarists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of aquarists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
20%

20% of aquarists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do aquarists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, aquarists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, aquarists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become aquarists.

We asked aquarists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

90 aquarists

5 Star
29%

29% of aquarists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of aquarists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of aquarists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of aquarists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of aquarists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as aquarists?

Aquarists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of aquarists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked aquarists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

4.3 out of 5 stars

94 aquarists

5 Star
49%

49% of aquarists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
38%

38% of aquarists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
6%

6% of aquarists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
4%

4% of aquarists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of aquarists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an aquarist’s work environment?

As a whole, aquarists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of aquarists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an aquarist.

We asked aquarists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

4.1 out of 5 stars

91 aquarists

5 Star
42%

42% of aquarists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of aquarists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
16%

16% of aquarists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of aquarists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of aquarists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are aquarists making the best use of their abilities?

Former aquarists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most aquarists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an aquarist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked aquarists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

94 aquarists

5 Star
29%

29% of aquarists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of aquarists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of aquarists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
15%

15% of aquarists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of aquarists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars