Transportation planners 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, transportation planners rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 15% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy transportation planners 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
Supply chain manager
2.8
$72k
Budget analyst
2.8
$67k
Quality control inspector
2.8
$39k
Rail transportation worker
2.8
$60k
Transportation planner
2.8
$62k
Mail superintendent
2.7
$28k
Product safety engineer
2.7
$99k
Logistician
2.7
$45k
Meter reader
2.7
$44k

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

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

Are transportation planners happy with their salary?

Transportation planners rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most transportation planners having generally positive views of their salary.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

164 transportation planners

5 Star
12%

12% of transportation planners rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of transportation planners rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of transportation planners rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of transportation planners rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of transportation planners rated their compensation 1 stars

Do transportation planners find their jobs meaningful?

On average, transportation planners rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of transportation planners struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

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

2.6 out of 5 stars

164 transportation planners

5 Star
9%

9% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of transportation planners rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
26%

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

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

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

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

3.6 out of 5 stars

188 transportation planners

5 Star
23%

23% of transportation planners rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of transportation planners rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of transportation planners rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of transportation planners rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of transportation planners rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a transportation planner’s work environment?

As a whole, transportation planners 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 transportation planners how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

187 transportation planners

5 Star
13%

13% of transportation planners rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of transportation planners rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of transportation planners rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of transportation planners rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of transportation planners rated their work environment 1 stars

Are transportation planners making the best use of their abilities?

Former transportation planners on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Transportation planners tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.9 out of 5 stars

187 transportation planners

5 Star
9%

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

4 Star
26%

26% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
27%

27% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of transportation planners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars