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
11% of surveyors rated their compensation 5 stars
31% of surveyors rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of surveyors rated their compensation 3 stars
16% of surveyors rated their compensation 2 stars
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
6% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
16% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
26% of surveyors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
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
23% of surveyors rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of surveyors rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of surveyors rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of surveyors rated their career fit 2 stars
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
19% of surveyors rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of surveyors rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of surveyors rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of surveyors rated their work environment 2 stars
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
9% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
19% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
26% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
15% of surveyors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars