Surveyors are one of the least happy 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, surveyors rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 20% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy surveyors 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
Ironworker
2.9
$44k
Maintenance worker
2.9
$23k
Water treatment plant operator
2.9
$56k
Agricultural inspector
2.9
$11k
Cement mason
2.9
$18k
Surveyor
2.8
$46k
Marine electrician
2.8
$73k
Highway maintenance worker
2.8
$39k
Plumber
2.8
$24k
Pipelayer
2.8
$50k

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

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

Are surveyors happy with their salary?

Surveyors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most surveyors having generally positive views of their salary.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

339 surveyors

5 Star
11%

11% of surveyors rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of surveyors rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of surveyors rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of surveyors rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of surveyors rated their compensation 1 stars

Do surveyors find their jobs meaningful?

On average, surveyors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of surveyors struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

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

2.5 out of 5 stars

340 surveyors

5 Star
6%

6% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
16%

16% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
26%

26% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
26%

26% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

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

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

3.6 out of 5 stars

376 surveyors

5 Star
23%

23% of surveyors rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of surveyors rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of surveyors rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of surveyors rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of surveyors rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a surveyor’s work environment?

As a whole, surveyors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of surveyors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a surveyor.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

370 surveyors

5 Star
19%

19% of surveyors rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of surveyors rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of surveyors rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of surveyors rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of surveyors rated their work environment 1 stars

Are surveyors making the best use of their abilities?

Former surveyors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Surveyors tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.8 out of 5 stars

372 surveyors

5 Star
9%

9% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
19%

19% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
26%

26% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
15%

15% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars