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Job outlook for associate environmental scientists in the United States
Are associate environmental scientist jobs in demand?
Associate environmental scientist job and salary trends over time
Associate environmental scientist jobs over time
Associate environmental scientist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,338 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 2,573 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 2,563 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,448 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,491 | 0.00% |
Average associate environmental scientist salary over time
Associate environmental scientist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $57,206 | $27.50 | +2.6% |
| 2025 | $55,745 | $26.80 | +0.3% |
| 2024 | $55,566 | $26.71 | +2.5% |
| 2023 | $54,214 | $26.06 | +0.7% |
| 2022 | $53,832 | $25.88 | +2.1% |
Associate environmental scientist jobs by state
Most common states for associate environmental scientists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 114 | 15% |
| 2 | Alaska | 739,795 | 113 | 15% |
| 3 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,164 | 14% |
| 4 | Delaware | 961,939 | 133 | 14% |
| 5 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 817 | 13% |
| 6 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 117 | 13% |
| 7 | Vermont | 623,657 | 78 | 13% |
| 8 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 160 | 12% |
| 9 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 86 | 12% |
| 10 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 393 | 11% |
| 11 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 146 | 11% |
| 12 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 66 | 11% |
| 13 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 881 | 10% |
| 14 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 106 | 10% |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 533 | 9% |
| 16 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 190 | 9% |
| 17 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 98 | 9% |
| 18 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 833 | 8% |
| 19 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 426 | 8% |
| 20 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 874 | 7% |
Most common cities for associate environmental scientists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gainesville | 4 | 10% | $49,700 |
| 2 | Marrero | 1 | 3% | $47,571 |
| 3 | Mishawaka | 1 | 2% | $54,215 |
| 4 | Bloomington | 1 | 1% | $57,765 |
| 5 | Hayward | 1 | 1% | $87,906 |
| 6 | Lafayette | 1 | 1% | $53,115 |
| 7 | Napa | 1 | 1% | $88,290 |
| 8 | Palm Bay | 1 | 1% | $33,269 |
| 9 | Pleasanton | 1 | 1% | $87,781 |
| 10 | Boston | 2 | 0% | $66,148 |
| 11 | Chicago | 1 | 0% | $66,654 |
| 12 | New York | 1 | 0% | $66,362 |
| 13 | Phoenix | 1 | 0% | $45,007 |
| 14 | Sacramento | 1 | 0% | $87,649 |
| 15 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $88,187 |
Associate Environmental Scientist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of associate environmental scientist experts
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Bellarmine University
University of Puerto Rico-RP
What will help Associate Environmental Scientists increase their earning potential?
Virginia Charter PhD, PE, FSFPE: The best advice I can give to new graduates is to always be willing to learn. This field is changing constantly with new challenges to protect people, property and the environment. A willingness to learn and soak up everything you can when starting out will set you on a path to success.
What general advice would you give to an Associate Environmental Scientist?
Martha Carlson Mazur PhD: Be a contributing member of the communities you occupy. Forming authentic relationships builds the network that will lead to opportunities for advancement.
What Associate Environmental Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Martha Carlson Mazur PhD: The art of paying attention is the top emerging skill that students need to acquire before entering the workforce in Environmental Science. We have so many distractions vying for our attention in today’s high-tech world that we need to be mindful of where we choose to direct our thoughts to optimize our productivity. Likewise, paying attention to changes in the environment is of utmost importance in the work that we do, and paying attention to our own needs will keep us going in the hard but rewarding work of changing the world.
What will help Associate Environmental Scientists increase their earning potential?
Martha Carlson Mazur PhD: Be clear to yourself on what you value and how you want to use your unique skills and knowledge to change your piece of the world. Then, connect with people to find shared values and build relationships to enact your vision while being open to opportunities you might not have considered.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Associate Environmental Scientists?
Elvia Melendez-Ackerman Ph.D.: An unwritten rule is that the more marketable college graduates not only finish with an appropriate selection of content courses but also with a myriad of hands-on experiences where the student has had the opportunity to develop and strengthen scientific and technical skills, but just as important are the soft skills expected in their chosen profession. Many of these hands-on experiences occur off campus and indeed these are highly encouraged by academic advisors. For most students graduating after 2020, the pandemic reduced the number of opportunities in which they engaged in these types of activities, reducing their number of hours spent in “job-like” settings. It is in these settings where students can develop and demonstrate their leadership, teamwork and, organizational skills and, their ability to get the job done.
Because these off-campus experiences are carried out under supervision, they become important sources of letters of recommendations for employment from experts that truly know how they can perform under different situations. In the short-term, COVID-19 and events with similar outcomes (i.e.. shutdown of educational facilities) could be viewed as a selective factor that would favor those students that engaged early in their undergraduate degree in complementary activities (i.e., internships, volunteer work in research projects, research for credit, etc.). Within that context, shutdowns related to the pandemic might have impacted job preparedness of students from different socio-economic backgrounds differently. For those students that needed to work to pay for college, engaging early in ancillary professional activities might not have been an option. Socio-economic disparities in terms of access to technology (good computer, high speed internet) may have also led to unequal learning experiences. I taught a course in drone technologies where we managed to purchase GIS software licenses to allow students to work on simple spatial analyses remotely, but some students just did not have the computing capacity to operate these at home and ended up having to watch others.
For employers looking to hire recent college graduates that can do reliable fieldwork and perform well under fieldwork conditions (e.g., research areas related to environmental, social, or social-environmental work), the pool of experienced students would now be reduced. At the same time, college graduates will have a tougher time accruing the much-needed experience time that will make them competitive.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Associate Environmental Scientists?
Elvia Melendez-Ackerman Ph.D.: Getting a job is all about skills. Any science major who is seriously thinking about becoming a researcher is expected to have good skills in data analysis, modelling and visualization, statistical skills (spatial and temporal). In short, they are required to have fundamental data skills to conduct research. This is particularly true for any graduate in Environmental Sciences where an immense amount of data is generated by so many organizations and agencies around the world. Most jobs list these stills as a must, but some even require that students be proficient in a computing language (R, Python, etc.).
There are indeed many online courses, certifications (on computer languages like R, Python or software such as ArcGIS) and resources available that students could take advantage of especially during these pandemic times. These skills require practice and time, but the advantage is that they allow for conducting certain aspects of research remotely in ways that can advance anyone’s career. These skills indeed can not only expand the career mobility of prospective hires but also give them a better chance to fit in interdisciplinary groups.
What soft skills should all Associate Environmental Scientists possess?
Elvia Melendez-Ackerman Ph.D.: To me the following are almost universal. College graduates should be responsible, reliable, have good organizational skills, great capacity work both in groups and independently. Ideally a college graduate shows good leadership, communication, and problem-solving abilities. These last three often appear as requirements in job applications, but even if unlisted you better believe that a prospective employer is looking for those skills when reviewing an application. The pandemic brought to the forefront the importance of communication skills (written and oral) and the importance of networking especially in their professional environments. It has also shifted the ways in which communication needs to be conducted in workplaces. Understanding and becoming proficient in these new communication strategies is more desirable than ever.