Environmental engineers are below average when it comes to happiness.

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, environmental engineers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 23% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy environmental engineers 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
Water engineer
3.0
$95k
Industrial engineering technician
2.9
$44k
Drafter
2.9
$45k
Chemical engineer
2.9
$91k
Nuclear engineer
2.9
$85k
Environmental engineer
2.9
$60k
Industrial engineer
2.9
$61k
Environmental technician
2.9
$46k
Power engineer
2.8
$68k
Energy broker
2.8
$55k

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

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

Are environmental engineers happy with their salary?

Environmental engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most environmental engineers having generally positive views of their salary.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

305 environmental engineers

5 Star
16%

16% of environmental engineers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of environmental engineers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of environmental engineers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of environmental engineers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of environmental engineers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do environmental engineers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, environmental engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. While most environmental engineers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.

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

2.9 out of 5 stars

312 environmental engineers

5 Star
14%

14% of environmental engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of environmental engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of environmental engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of environmental engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
21%

21% of environmental engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Environmental engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of environmental engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.6 out of 5 stars

344 environmental engineers

5 Star
18%

18% of environmental engineers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
40%

40% of environmental engineers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of environmental engineers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of environmental engineers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of environmental engineers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an environmental engineer’s work environment?

As a whole, environmental engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.3 out of 5 stars

339 environmental engineers

5 Star
15%

15% of environmental engineers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of environmental engineers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of environmental engineers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of environmental engineers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of environmental engineers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are environmental engineers making the best use of their abilities?

Former environmental engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most environmental engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

342 environmental engineers

5 Star
15%

15% of environmental engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of environmental engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of environmental engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of environmental engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of environmental engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars