There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an environmental economist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.18 an hour? That's $66,930 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 1,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many environmental economists 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 writing skills, analytical skills and critical-thinking skills.
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 environmental economist job title. But what industry to start with? Most environmental economists actually find jobs in the non profits and construction industries.
If you're interested in becoming an environmental economist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.2% of environmental economists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 45.5% of environmental economists have master's degrees. Even though most environmental economists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an environmental economist. In fact, many environmental economist jobs require experience in a role such as research assistant. Meanwhile, many environmental economists also have previous career experience in roles such as director or agricultural economist.
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an environmental economist. The best states for people in this position are New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Environmental economists make the most in New York with an average salary of $109,487. Whereas in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they would average $102,498 and $102,285, respectively. While environmental economists would only make an average of $101,007 in Ohio, 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. South Dakota
$96,817
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$109,202
Avg. Salary
3. Montana
$94,382
Avg. Salary