Wildlife rehabilitators 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, wildlife rehabilitators rate their career happiness 4.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 2% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy wildlife rehabilitators 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 | N/A |
| 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 wildlife rehabilitators happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do wildlife rehabilitators find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as wildlife rehabilitators?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are wildlife rehabilitator’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are wildlife rehabilitators making the best use of their abilities?
Are wildlife rehabilitators happy with their salary?
Wildlife rehabilitators rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most wildlife rehabilitators do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked wildlife rehabilitators how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.4 out of 5 stars
71 wildlife rehabilitators
7% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their compensation 5 stars
13% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their compensation 2 stars
30% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their compensation 1 stars
Do wildlife rehabilitators find their jobs meaningful?
On average, wildlife rehabilitators rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.3/5. Unlike many careers, wildlife rehabilitators have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become wildlife rehabilitators.
We asked wildlife rehabilitators how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
75 wildlife rehabilitators
52% of wildlife rehabilitators rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
29% of wildlife rehabilitators rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
13% of wildlife rehabilitators rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
5% of wildlife rehabilitators rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as wildlife rehabilitators?
Wildlife rehabilitators rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of wildlife rehabilitators find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked wildlife rehabilitators how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
80 wildlife rehabilitators
50% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their career fit 4 stars
15% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their career fit 3 stars
1% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their career fit 2 stars
How enjoyable is a wildlife rehabilitator’s work environment?
As a whole, wildlife rehabilitators rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of wildlife rehabilitators enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a wildlife rehabilitator.
We asked wildlife rehabilitators how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
81 wildlife rehabilitators
38% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their work environment 5 stars
41% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their work environment 4 stars
16% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their work environment 2 stars
Are wildlife rehabilitators making the best use of their abilities?
Former wildlife rehabilitators on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.7/5. Most wildlife rehabilitators surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a wildlife rehabilitator, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked wildlife rehabilitators how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
82 wildlife rehabilitators
28% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
33% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of wildlife rehabilitators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars