Botanist Overview
Working as a Botanist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a botanist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.83 an hour? That's $51,637 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 900 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Botanist Do
There are certain skills that many botanists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, observation skills and critical-thinking skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a botanist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 13.7% of botanists included rare plant, while 12.4% of resumes included gps, and 10.5% of resumes included wetland delineations. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the botanist job title. But what industry to start with? Most botanists actually find jobs in the education and retail industries.
How To Become a Botanist
If you're interested in becoming a botanist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 40.9% of botanists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 33.0% of botanists have master's degrees. Even though most botanists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a botanist. When we researched the most common majors for a botanist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on botanist resumes include high school diploma degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a botanist. In fact, many botanist jobs require experience in a role such as teaching assistant. Meanwhile, many botanists also have previous career experience in roles such as research assistant or biological science technician.
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Botanist Jobs
Botanist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a botanist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as ecologist, progress to a title such as environmental specialist and then eventually end up with the title senior environmental scientist.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Botanist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
State of Minnesota Botanist Botanist | State of Minnesota State of Minnesota | 01/28/2020 01/28/2020 | $42,93001/28/2020 $42,930 |
Bureau of Land Management Botanist Botanist | Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Land Management | 11/25/2019 11/25/2019 | $62,23611/25/2019 $62,236 |
National Park Service Botanist Botanist | National Park Service National Park Service | 10/28/2019 10/28/2019 | $74,59610/28/2019 $74,596 |
Forest Service Botanist Botanist | Forest Service Forest Service | 10/23/2019 10/23/2019 | $51,44010/23/2019 $51,440 |
Forest Service Botanist Botanist | Forest Service Forest Service | 10/19/2019 10/19/2019 | $42,05310/19/2019 $42,053 |
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Top Colleges for Botanists
1. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA
2. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
3. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
4. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
6. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
7. Duke University
Durham, NC
8. North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
9. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA
10. University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Botanist
Top Skills For a Botanist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 13.7% of botanists listed rare plant on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and observation skills are important as well.
- GPS, 18.6%
- Plant Surveys, 12.1%
- Rare Plant, 9.9%
- GIS, 8.6%
- Wetland, 7.9%
- Other Skills, 42.9% See All Botanist Skills
Best States For a Botanist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a botanist. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and New Jersey. Botanists make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $76,967. Whereas in Pennsylvania and Oregon, they would average $72,201 and $70,194, respectively. While botanists would only make an average of $66,708 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$76,968
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
$70,195
Avg. Salary
3. West Virginia
$64,224
Avg. Salary