Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Job outlook for sustainability coordinators in the United States
Are sustainability coordinator jobs in demand?
Sustainability coordinator job and salary trends over time
Sustainability coordinator jobs over time
Sustainability coordinator job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,342 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 1,414 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 1,415 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,362 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,267 | 0.00% |
Average sustainability coordinator salary over time
Sustainability coordinator salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $52,310 | $25.15 | +4.0% |
| 2024 | $50,319 | $24.19 | +2.4% |
| 2023 | $49,140 | $23.62 | +0.7% |
| 2022 | $48,778 | $23.45 | +1.4% |
| 2021 | $48,102 | $23.13 | +1.3% |
Sustainability coordinator jobs by state
Most common states for sustainability coordinators
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 524 | 18% |
| 2 | Delaware | 961,939 | 173 | 18% |
| 3 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 135 | 18% |
| 4 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 305 | 15% |
| 5 | Arkansas | 3,004,279 | 434 | 14% |
| 6 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 118 | 14% |
| 7 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 219 | 13% |
| 8 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 515 | 11% |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 417 | 11% |
| 10 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 50 | 7% |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 253 | 4% |
| 12 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 58 | 4% |
| 13 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 155 | 3% |
| 14 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 33 | 3% |
| 15 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 30 | 3% |
| 16 | Alaska | 739,795 | 21 | 3% |
| 17 | Vermont | 623,657 | 20 | 3% |
| 18 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 19 | 3% |
| 19 | New York | 19,849,399 | 312 | 2% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 86 | 2% |
Most common cities for sustainability coordinators
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tinley Park | 2 | 4% | $64,458 |
| 2 | Wausau | 1 | 3% | $54,624 |
| 3 | Mountain View | 2 | 2% | $78,843 |
| 4 | Margate | 1 | 2% | $51,705 |
| 5 | Des Moines | 2 | 1% | $49,174 |
| 6 | Portland | 1 | 1% | $65,610 |
| 7 | Atlanta | 2 | 0% | $55,255 |
| 8 | Boston | 2 | 0% | $85,203 |
| 9 | Irving | 1 | 0% | $62,478 |
| 10 | New Orleans | 1 | 0% | $64,860 |
| 11 | Saint Louis | 1 | 0% | $53,784 |
| 12 | Seattle | 1 | 0% | $48,478 |
Sustainability Coordinator job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of sustainability coordinator experts
Metropolitan State University
University of Georgia
University of South Florida
Florida Gulf Coast University
University of South Florida
University of Montana
Brigham Young University
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Mary Whitney PhD: Graduate degrees will put you ahead in the applicant pools, and keeping up with professional certifications can keep you competitive throughout your career.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Mary Whitney PhD: In the US companies are looking for those who can help with materiality assessments, greenhouse gas auditing, and managing ESG reporting. Data collection and analysis, both quantitative and qualitative research skills, and strong writing skills are all important. You will need to know how to measure, how to analyze what your measurements mean for your plans, and how to talk about it meaningfully from the boardroom to the customer.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Mary Whitney PhD: Learn broadly – the more you know about sustainability in general, the better you will be able to make connections and build skills that will last through several jobs. Subscribe to industry newsletter and podcasts to keep up on the issues and concerning businesses. They’ll keep you current and you’ll get a better feel for how businesses talk about sustainability.
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Maritza Jauregui Ph.D.: Sustainability Specialist is a fairly new type of position, so individuals who like routine, are not good communicators, are not independent, or prefer a lot of training at the workplace will not like this position. What most individuals like about this job is the feeling of making a difference and changing companies for the better from within.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Maritza Jauregui Ph.D.: Yes, it is an excellent field to enter now. There is an ever-growing need for individuals trained in sustainability and not enough graduates in the field. It is also the type of job you can feel good about at the end of the day. Essentially, you are being hired to help to maintain or increase a company's profit margin while either preventing harm to the planet and the people that live on it, or (for those companies that are trying to go beyond traditional sustainability and become regenerative) actually improving the natural and social environments.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Maritza Jauregui Ph.D.: A Sustainability Specialist is a very broad term used by companies to describe a position for someone who has been hired to either initiate or encourage more sustainable practices within their business. What that looks like will depend on the company and how interested it is in true sustainability and their understanding of what sustainability is. Most companies only focus on environmental sustainability, so a sustainability specialist in those companies would primarily be focused on reducing a company's carbon footprint and overall resource use. Sustainable business practices are actually much broader than this, including improving quality of life for their employees and local communities and supporting local economies. Some activities that a sustainability specialist may be involved in is conducting or designing audits of operations to reduce waste, energy consumption and overall resources use, climate mitigation and risk planning, developing sustainable education materials, conducting overall sustainability audits to identify areas of improvement and making recommendations to implement more sustainable practices, creating sustainability initiatives and policies, coordinating with multiple departments to implement sustainability initiatives, and helping in the preparation of sustainability reports and ESG reports for the organization.
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Dr. Xiaolong Shao: When you just stepped out of school and enter the industry, it's best not to make ultimate decisions regarding lifetime employment too early on. Take some time to explore different fields and find what suits you best. This period is also a golden opportunity for self-improvement. Pay more attention to building your own network and reputation; years later, you'll find that these connections are your most valuable assets.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Xiaolong Shao: If you want to maximize your salary potential as a new graduate, I believe it's important to first understand the job market well. Look for positions with less competition, and don't hesitate to put your personal interests aside for the time being. Do some research about what special skills are highly valued in the industry, such as revenue management, event planning, or culinary arts. Then, enhance your credibility by obtaining different certifications or attending relevant training programs. Many higher education institutions offer excellent training and certification programs. Also, keep an eye on industry trends, build your network, and consider the economy, or political environment when choosing where to work. This is a continuous process, but the key to maximizing your salary is to spend time understanding what unique values that make you irreplaceable.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Dr. Xiaolong Shao: I believe there are many important skills that play important roles in succeeding in the hospitality industry. As a researcher who focuses on sustainable products and consumer behaviors, I can see that the hospitality industry evolves with a growing focus on sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. I believe that graduates must cultivate a diverse skill set to thrive in the field over the next 3-5 years. For example, proficiency in sustainability skills/practices, including resource management and eco-friendly technologies, is important, as well as analytical skills for assessing environmental impact and progress towards sustainability goals. Also, effective communication and stakeholder engagement are very important for garnering support for these ESG initiatives.
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Tyra Byers: The field is evolving, which means it's important to be flexible and stay on top of current trends. Also, sustainability challenges cannot be solved by any one person, unit or company. Collaboration is critical in this field.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Tyra Byers: I question whether this is the key driver for employees looking to enter the sustainability field. There is growing evidence that the current generation values work that feels meaningful, and offers work life balance, as much as they value a high salary. I don't have any specific advice in terms of salary maximization.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Tyra Byers: At UGA we use a competency based approach to sustainability education. I believe it's important that sustainability professionals be able to think in systems understanding that solutions can have impacts that aren't immediately apparent and to be aware of emergent properties and leverage points. Collaboration is also critical as sustainability requires multiple units, disciplines, and departments work together to achieve goals and targets. Additionally, it's important for sustainability professionals to be able to forecast, back cast and vision, develop strategy, and understand norms and bias in addressing sustainability challenges.
Thomas Culhane
University of South Florida
Sustainability Studies
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Thomas Culhane: I teach our students to use every available technology – from the human hand (through our hands-on field projects) to high-powered hand-held 'smart phones' and Extensible Reality (XR/VR/AR) headsets and gaming computers, from microscopes to telescopes to microcontrollers and sensors and drone photogrammetry and LIDAR to Geographic Information Systems, CAD Systems, Mesh Modelers, and Audio-Video-Gaming Creation platforms and various Artificial Intelligence allies – all put in the service of designing and implementing and communicating sustainable development ideas.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Thomas Culhane: Since the 'job market' is considered 'competitive' students often seek salary maximization without realizing that in the sustainability field the goal is not to focus on instantaneous maxima but long-term (i.e. sustainable) high averages. My advice for anybody in our field is to 'be the nexus', BE the change you wish to see (as Gandhi exhorted), BE the 'sustainabilitist' that the world needs so that your skills are not only always in demand but are actually truly needed.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Thomas Culhane: I would (and do) give graduates the same advice my journalist father gave to my graduating class when I was young: 'Only Connect'. Dad was certain, and I am now too, that the most important career skill in general and specifically for the sustainability field is to develop and constantly strengthen your ability to connect different ideas and fields. Our PCGS program is unabashedly interdisciplinary. I teach the 'Navigating the Food Energy Water Nexus' and 'Waste Not Want Not: Reconsidering Refuse as Resource' courses, as well as being the director of our Climate Mitigation and Adaptation program and teaching science communication and technical skills through our 'Envisioning Sustainability' and 'Sustainable Design Laboratory' Courses and they ALL overlap and they all demand 'Nexus Thinking' – the ability to see the rhizomal/neuronal connections between each area of study.
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Dr. Eric Otto Ph.D.: Integrated Studies degree programs operate on the idea that students who learn to pursue solutions through applying transdisciplinary, 'systems' approaches will be well-positioned to contribute in a world where everything is intertwined. So, my advice would be to bring these approaches to your career—and to your personal life, your relationships, your hobbies. Thinking beyond the boundaries of disciplines opens up lots of possibility.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Eric Otto Ph.D.: I recently heard a sustainability educator say we need to learn 'how to live in an entangled world.' I think the most adept leaders and innovators in any field will be the ones who can vision this entanglement and then approach problems, big and small, by addressing the systems within which these problems exist.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Dr. Eric Otto Ph.D.: If you are in a position where you are just starting out, then you may be flexible enough, early in your career, to dictate the terms of your future—that is, to do what you want to do, vs. what everyone else says you should do (white picket fence, etc.). What do you want for your life as a whole, not just for your career? Do whatever you need to do to maximize your potential of living that life. If you are indeed after maximum salary potential, then pursue leadership roles; and earn those roles by being a good person—listen, care, show up for people, learn new things, admit when you are wrong, celebrate others' successes. And don't forget to advocate for yourself; you know what you bring to the table!
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Joseph Dorsey Ph.D.: My advice would be to show confidence in your perspective, education, training, and mission. Sustainability is still an emerging field and not understood by many in the public and other academic fields. Still, sustainability is the wave of the 21st century since we have limited resources and limited time to extend and manage these resources for the coming decades, if not centuries into the future. Over time, many people will come to realize that sustainability is not a lifestyle, but a way of life. And we all must become sustainabilitists to successfully confront the technological, environmental, economic, and social challenges that need to be addressed in all sectors and in all nations for long-term security and adaptive resiliency. So, find your niche and make the changes that are necessary to sustain human progress and foster global stewardship.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Joseph Dorsey Ph.D.: Since sustainability is a transdisciplinary field, it is more focused on practice and application than concepts and theory. Not that knowledge and understanding sustainability principle aren’t important, it’s just, sustainability is about doing and making a difference in the world. Great verbal communication and writing skills are always important, but technical skills will go a long way in enhancing marketability. Certifications can be helpful in the career of a sustainabilitist; such as certification in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation, or a strong knowledge of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) policies for businesses and industries, or Six Sigma training in business and project management.
What will help Sustainability Coordinators increase their earning potential?
Joseph Dorsey Ph.D.: There are many positions out there in the public, private and non-profit sectors for Sustainability Officers, Sustainability Managers, Sustainability Coordinators, Sustainability Planners, and Sustainability Consultants. But not all sustainability related jobs have “sustainability” in the title. Jobs that focus on environment, resiliency, green technology, renewable energy, water management, food systems, climate, biodiversity, tourism, transportation, public health, and policy implementation, among others, could have sustainability components that can assure a long-term career in the field. I often tell my students that the jobs in sustainability that they seek may not exist yet, but once they have the appropriate education, training, and skills to address certain problems in the future, they’ll either create the position themselves or the position will appear in the job market due to timeliness and relevant necessity.
What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Coordinator?
Dr. Robert Sroufe: The ability to leverage data analytics skills, understanding key performance metrics, and leveraging AI are all at the forefront of skills employers are looking for. Understanding the potential for Integrated Management , i.e., how sustainability is already integrated within all business functions, and is part of everyone's job, is a skill that can set applicants apart. Performance measurement and then management of relationships across value chains will enabling change across industries. Industry sectors need people/skills ready to embrace change while finding new value propositions beyond a business as usual, myopic focus on lowest cost will only grow in importance. Future skills include a need to actualize full cost accounting, understanding life cycles of products along with processes and how to value greenhouse gases (GHGs) as this will give some an advantage in seeing strategic opportunities from decarbonization initiatives that can be broken down into new tactical and operational programs.
What Sustainability Coordinator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Robert Sroufe: Using the word maximize is a bit tricky, right? A maximum to some can mean wealth creation, yet for some tradeoffs, and minimizing other things. A traditional approach would probably sound like this, look for big companies with good salaries and goals for being more sustainable that align with your degree and interests, but do not compromise by taking the first job that get an offer for. Decades ago, this could get you into a stable company where you can look for innovative projects, do interesting work, and work your way up. More and more graduates and job seekers I talk to today, see the gig economy, constant change, and people not wanting to be in the same company of same job for decades, as providing a different approach to maximizing your potential. I have purposefully left the word salary out here. Think about it this way, what are you doing today that will payoff a decade from now? The payoffs are more than a short-term focus on a paycheck. Why not try to maximize happiness. With this view of the long-term, I try to advise those starting in the field in this way, do not take a fifty-year-old US centric approach, i.e., "where you live to work". Instead "work to live" and fully explore the value of a career doing meaningful work integrating sustainability into products and systems in a way that excites you, with a balanced approach to life, time working in the office or at home, family options, family support, gender equality in pay, and the importance of being connected to networks of engaged agents of change making a difference in the world. This network and the kind of work you choose to do, can be a goal to maximize with payoffs for decades to come. Work for good companies really pushing the envelope for more sustainable business practices.
Eva Rocke
Sustainability DirectorUniversity of Montana
Office of Sustainability
What soft skills should all Sustainability Coordinators possess?
Eva Rocke: In sustainability fields, communication skills (writing, speaking, meeting facilitation, and telling the story of sustainability) are critical. Sustainability professionals who work within organizations (universities, healthcare, municipal govt, etc.) find ourselves regularly needing to convince our colleagues that it's worth their time to do the "extra" sustainability thing. This entails building relationships of trust (having integrity and following through on what you SAY you're going to deliver), effectively communicating the benefits to them and their team, and knowing just how hard to push or advocate for a strategy or change. Change can take a while, so it's important to meet others in terms of sustainability, literacy, and openness and convince them that they stand to benefit in all sorts of ways if they collaborate w/ the sustainability staff.
What soft skills should all Sustainability Coordinators possess?
Dr. Stephen Duncan Ph.D.: Graduates should know how to get along collaboratively, having strong interpersonal skills, empathy for others' circumstances. In the School of Family Life, we not only stress thinking, writing, and numeracy skills and data organization, but interpersonal skills of clear speaking and listening, engaging with others, and working collaboratively on a team.
How have salaries changed over time for Sustainability Coordinators?
Dr. Stephen Duncan Ph.D.: The human sciences continue to be at the lower salary ranges of professional positions. Never will they rival our friends in engineering and other technical fields. Starting salaries at the bachelor's level are similar to elementary and secondary school teachers, and have followed their pattern over a number of years.