Environmental Scientist and Specialist

03.01 Natural Resources Conservation and Research · SOC 19-2041

Measuring and protecting water, air, soil and habitat, and making the case in front of a regulator. ⚠⚠⚠ Two things a Florida student should know before choosing the major. FIRST, environmental SCIENCE and environmental STUDIES are different degrees leading to different jobs, and the state's largest producer teaches the studies one. SECOND, Florida pays this occupation $21,390 below the national median — a far wider gap than architecture's $3,040 or interior design's $6,330 — so choosing the employer matters more here than almost anywhere else.

Licensure and accreditation

⚠⚠ THERE IS NO LICENCE AND NO PROGRAMME ACCREDITOR, which is not the good news it sounds like. Nothing external validates your preparation, so employers screen on coursework and demonstrated method, and the burden of assembling both falls on you. BLS puts it mildly: "Some employers prefer or require that candidates… have certification related to the work they will do." ⚠ Entry is a bachelor's for the scientist role and an ASSOCIATE for the technician role (19-4042, $55,090, +7%), which is a real two-year route into the same field rather than a lesser one. ⚠⚠ TWO FLORIDA CREDENTIALS DO EXIST AND ARE WORTH KNOWING: geological work is licensed under chapter 492, F.S. (Professional Geologist), which matters for groundwater and contaminated sites; and drinking-water and wastewater treatment plant operators are licensed by the Department of Environmental Protection. ⚠⚠⚠ Where nothing is regulated, the specific courses do the work a credential would — GIS, statistics, chemistry, documented field method and the regulatory vocabulary. Those five are the whole argument of the course list below.

Three roles, three entry levels, one field

Role	SOC	Entry	Median (US)	Jobs	Openings/yr	Outlook 2025–35
Environmental scientist or specialist	19-2041	Bachelor’s	$82,220	93,400	7,300	+6% (faster than average)
Environmental science and protection technician	19-4042	Associate	$55,090	36,400	5,300	+7%

⚠ The technician row is not a lesser version of the first. It grows slightly faster, it has 5,300 openings a year on a third of the employment, and it is a two-year entry. It is the sampling, monitoring and compliance-testing half of the same work, and in Florida a great deal of it is done for water management districts, consultancies and county utilities.

BLS explains the growth in plain terms: “Public interest in hazards facing the environment is projected to create demand… These workers are expected to continue to be needed to analyze environmental problems and develop solutions that ensure communities’ health.” No AI claim appears on either page.

⚠⚠⚠ Read this before you commit: Florida pays badly for this work

This site compares every occupation’s Florida wages against the national ones. Environmental science shows one of the widest gaps on this site, and it is large at every percentile:

Percentile	Florida	United States	Difference
10th	$42,600	$52,520	−$9,920
25th	$48,870	$64,490	−$15,620
Median	$60,830	$82,220	⚠⚠ −$21,390
75th	$81,600	$107,970	−$26,370
90th	$109,290	$140,010	⚠⚠ −$30,720

⚠⚠⚠ The Florida median, $60,830, sits below the national 25th percentile. For comparison, measured the same way on this site: interior designers are $6,330 below national at the median, architects $3,040 below, and database administrators $500 below. This is a different order of gap, and a Florida student should know it before choosing the major, not after. ⚠⚠ The one field measured here that is worse is the neighbouring one: zoologists and wildlife biologists are $24,030 below national at the Florida median, which is worth reading alongside this page if marine or wildlife work is the draw.

⚠⚠ It is not a reason to avoid the field. It is a reason to be deliberate about the employer, because the federal figure is not in the same range as the rest:

Industry	Median (national)
⚠ Federal government	$116,110
Engineering services	$83,500
Local government	$81,580
State government	$80,500
Management, scientific and technical consulting	$79,320

A $36,790 spread between the top and bottom rows, for the same job title. Florida has substantial federal environmental employment — the Army Corps, the National Park Service, the US Geological Survey, NOAA, the EPA’s Region 4 work — and those jobs are competed for nationally. ⚠ They also hire on a schedule and a process most graduates never learn. Start reading the federal hiring rules in your third year, not after you graduate.

⚠⚠⚠ Environmental SCIENCE and environmental STUDIES are different degrees

Florida files them under two adjacent codes, and a great many applicants do not notice which one they are in:

Code	Degree	Florida output	Where
03.0104	Environmental Science — the laboratory and field science	456 credentials, 14 institutions	USF 149, Florida State 96, UF 48, UWF 35, Broward and FAU certificates
03.0103	Environmental Studies — interdisciplinary: policy, economics, law, communication	225 credentials, 5 institutions	UCF 108, FGCU 59, FIU 37, New College 14, FAMU 7
03.0101	Natural Resources and Conservation, General	41	Florida State
03.0199	Natural Resources, Other	23	Broward College (a bachelor’s)

⚠⚠ Both are legitimate and they lead to different jobs. The science degree carries the chemistry, biology, statistics and field-methods load that a consultancy, a laboratory or a monitoring programme hires on. The studies degree carries the policy, regulation and communication load that an agency, a non-profit or a planning office hires on. Employers screen on the coursework, not the degree title — so if you are in a studies programme and want laboratory work, take the chemistry sequence anyway.

⚠ The single largest producer in the state is UCF, and its 108 are STUDIES. The single largest science producer is USF. Look at the actual required-course list before you decide; the words on the diploma are the least informative part.

⚠⚠ Note also what the codes do not reach. Forestry (UF, 130 credentials), Wildlife and Wildlands (UF and the College of the Florida Keys, 113), Fishery Sciences (UF, 40) and Natural Resources Management (FGCU, St Petersburg, Florida Gateway, 69) sit in adjacent codes this site cannot yet browse. They are real Florida programmes and largely concentrated at UF; if your interest is wildlife, fisheries or forestry rather than pollution and compliance, that is where to look.

⚠⚠ The introductory course has four identifiers — and 37 institutions teach it

Introductory environmental science is one of the most widely taught courses in the state, and Florida numbers it four ways:

Identifier	Shape	Carriers	Credits
`EVR1001`	lecture	22 — 17 state colleges, 5 universities	3 everywhere
`EVR1001L`	its laboratory	6 — all six also carry `EVR1001`	1
`EVR1001C`	integrated lecture + lab	8	3 or 4
⚠ `EVR2001`	the same course at 2000 level	8 — including UF, USF, UWF	3 or 4

37 Florida public institutions in total, and the four sets barely overlap — EVR1001 and EVR2001 share no carrier at all, and only Santa Fe carries both EVR1001 and EVR1001C.

⚠⚠ The lecture-plus-lab and integrated forms are equivalent — Florida’s articulation treats them that way and the outcomes are the same. Where your institution splits it, enrol in BOTH halves; that is the only thing you have to get right. The level twin is the one to watch: both are lower division so no baccalaureate credit is at risk, but SCNS equivalency does not cross numbers, so an automated match between EVR1001 and EVR2001 finds nothing.

✅✅ And here is the reassurance that outranks all of it: every one of these identifiers carries (GE CORE) in its statewide title. That marks a Florida General Education Core course under s. 1007.25, F.S. — it satisfies its general-education area at every Florida public college and university and carries that status in transfer, which is a stronger guarantee than the ordinary “transfers where the same course is offered” boilerplate. OCE1001, GLY2010 and STA2023 carry it too.

⚠ Geology is fragmented the same way, six ways over: GLY1010, GLY1010C, GLY1010L, GLY2010, GLY2010C and GLY2010L are all live, all carried by four to nine institutions each. Register by number, not by title.

What actually makes a Florida environmental graduate employable

The degree gets the interview. Four things get the job, and three of them are single courses:

⚠⚠ GIS. GIS2040 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems runs at ten Florida public institutions and is the most directly hireable course on this page. Nearly every environmental job produces a map, and most graduates cannot make one.
⚠⚠ Statistics you can defend. STA2023 is carried by 39 institutions and is GE Core. Environmental conclusions are statistical conclusions, and the ones that get challenged are challenged on the statistics.
⚠ Field and laboratory method, documented. Chain of custody, sampling design, quality control. This is what separates a graduate a consultancy can bill from one it cannot.
⚠⚠ The regulatory vocabulary. EVR2647 Environmental Site Assessment and EVR2630 Hazardous Materials Risk Analysis are short, specific and name the work directly — Phase I assessments are a standing revenue line in Florida consulting.

⚠ BLS on certification: “Some employers prefer or require that candidates… have certification related to the work they will do.” There is no licence to practise environmental science in Florida, and no accredited-programme requirement — which means nothing external validates your preparation and the burden of assembling it is entirely yours. That is the price of an unregulated field, and it is why the course list above matters more here than on a licensed path.

⚠⚠ Two Florida-specific exceptions worth knowing: geological work is licensed under chapter 492, F.S. (Professional Geologist), and drinking-water and wastewater treatment plant operators are licensed by the Department of Environmental Protection. If your interest is groundwater or utilities, those credentials are real, checkable and comparatively well paid.

Florida is the work

⚠ This is the unusual argument in favour of staying, and it should be weighed against the wage table above. Florida runs some of the largest environmental programmes in the country — Everglades restoration, springs protection, stormwater and nutrient management, coastal resilience and sea-level rise, red tide and harmful algal blooms, phosphate reclamation, and the five water management districts, which are a substantial employer that exists in almost no other state.

What that means practically: the experience you accumulate here is nationally valuable even where the salary is not. Coastal resilience and nutrient management are growth areas everywhere, and Florida is where the hard cases are. ⚠ Several years of Florida field experience is a strong application elsewhere — and, on these numbers, going elsewhere is worth about $21,000 a year at the median.

What to do first

⚠⚠ Check whether your programme is environmental SCIENCE or environmental STUDIES, and whether that matches the work you want. Read the required-course list, not the title.
Take GIS. One course, ten institutions, and it appears in more environmental job adverts than any other single skill.
Take the chemistry sequence even if your programme does not require it — laboratory and consulting work screens on it.
⚠ Do the internship (EVR4940, four universities) and get it with an agency or a consultancy rather than a laboratory rotation, so you finish with regulatory vocabulary as well as technique.
⚠⚠ Look seriously at federal employment, where the median is $116,110 against $79,320 in consulting. The hiring process is its own skill; learn it before you need it.
Register introductory courses by number — four identifiers for one course, and six for geology.

Where people come from

There is no single required programme for this path. These are the fields students actually arrive from — each is a place in the catalog you can browse.

26.01Biology, General

⚠ Biology, General — named because the ecology sequence is genuinely shared: PCB3043 General Ecology and its laboratory and BSC3052 Conservation Biology are biology numbers, and habitat, wetland and restoration employers hire from both degrees. ⚠⚠ A biology degree with the environmental electives is a stronger preparation for field ecology than an environmental studies degree with none.

14.14Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering

⚠⚠ Environmental Engineering — named as the adjacent destination with the licence. An environmental engineer can sit the FE, become a PE and seal designs; an environmental scientist cannot, whatever their experience. Seven Florida institutions award it against this family's sixteen, the mathematics load is far heavier, and the wage ceiling is much higher.

40.06Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences

⚠ Geological and Earth Sciences — named because Florida's water problems are geological ones: a limestone aquifer, springs, sinkholes and saltwater intrusion. ⚠⚠ It is also the route to the one directly relevant Florida licence, the Professional Geologist under chapter 492, F.S.

Programs that lead here

A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that awarded a credential in the field in 2023; it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different from the course-based list further down.

Environmental Science and Studies 19 Florida schools

The programme — 19 Florida institutions, and the note there sets out the science-versus-studies split and the four adjacent codes (forestry, wildlife, fisheries, resource management) that the tree does not yet carry.

Public Health 14 Florida schools

⚠⚠ A genuine route and an underadvertised one. The SOC title is literally 'Environmental Scientists and Specialists, INCLUDING HEALTH', and environmental health — water and air quality, vector control, hazardous materials — is a named public health specialism that Florida county health departments staff.

Related, but not a route in

Programs worth knowing about if you are considering this career — ⚠ they do not lead to it. Each row says what it is and is not.

Environmental Engineering 7 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Not the same path and worth deciding between deliberately: engineering carries the calculus sequence, the FE exam and PE licensure, and a ceiling this occupation does not reach. ⚠ If the mathematics is manageable, it is the better-paid version of a similar interest.

Civil Engineering 9 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the Florida-specific reason: stormwater, coastal resilience and water resources are civil engineering projects that environmental scientists are staffed onto constantly, and the five water management districts employ both.

Data Science and Analytics 13 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the skill that most changes employability here: monitoring produces large spatial and time-series datasets, GIS2040 and STA2023 are the shared courses, and environmental data work is paid closer to the computing market than the environmental one.

Careers similar to this one

No other career on this site is filed in the same field yet — which says nothing about the career, only that we have not written its neighbours. Browse all career paths, or see what else is filed under NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION.

Courses along this path

Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on. A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.

EVR1001 —Introduction to Environmental Science Request a guide

Introduction to Environmental Science — TWENTY-TWO public carriers, 17 of them state colleges. The entry point to the whole field, and it carries (GE CORE) in its statewide title, so it satisfies a general-education science area at every Florida public institution and carries that status in transfer.

⚠ ⚠⚠⚠ FOUR identifiers for this course across 37 institutions: EVR1001 (lecture, 22), EVR1001L (its lab, 6 — all of which also carry the lecture), EVR1001C (integrated, 8) and EVR2001 (the same course at 2000 LEVEL, 8, including UF, USF and UWF). ⚠ EVR1001 and EVR2001 share NO carrier. Register by number.

EVR2001 —Introduction to Environmental Science Guide

The same introductory course at 2000 level — Daytona State, Florida Polytechnic, New College, Pensacola State, South Florida State, UF, USF and UWF. ⚠ Listed separately because it is the number the three largest universities on this list use, and a student will only ever find one of the two.

⚠ ⚠⚠ Both are lower division, so no baccalaureate credit is at risk — but SCNS equivalency does not cross numbers, so an automated transfer match between EVR1001 and EVR2001 finds nothing. Also (GE CORE).

EVR1001L —Introduction to Environmental Science Lab Request a guide

The laboratory half, at Central Florida, FAMU, Florida Gateway, FIU, Florida State and North Florida College. ⚠ All six also carry the lecture, so this is the clean split-family pair: lecture plus lab completes exactly as the integrated EVR1001C does. ⚠⚠ Where your institution splits it, enrol in BOTH halves — that is the only thing you have to get right.

CHM2045 —General Chemistry I Guide

General Chemistry I — the course that decides which half of this field is open to you. ⚠⚠ Laboratory, consulting and monitoring work screens on chemistry, and an environmental STUDIES programme may not require it. ⚠ Take it anyway if you want to work in a laboratory or for a consultancy; it is very hard to add later.

BSC2010 —General Biology I Guide

General Biology I — the majors sequence, not the non-majors survey. ⚠ It is the prerequisite the ecology courses assume, and taking the non-majors version instead is the commonest way Florida students find themselves blocked out of PCB3043 two years later.

⚠ ⚠ Check which biology your programme requires BEFORE registering: Florida runs majors and non-majors sequences under different numbers, and they are not substitutes.

STA2023 —Elementary Statistics Guide

Statistical Methods I — THIRTY-NINE public carriers, the widest course in the Florida catalogue outside health-care CTE, and (GE CORE). ⚠⚠ Environmental conclusions are statistical conclusions, and the ones that get challenged in a permit hearing or a lawsuit are challenged on the statistics. Take it seriously rather than as a requirement to clear.

EVR1001C —Introduction to Environmental Science Guide

The integrated lecture-and-laboratory form, at FGCU, Florida SouthWestern, Hillsborough, Northwest Florida, Pensacola State, St Johns River, St Petersburg and Santa Fe. Three or four credits depending on the institution.

⚠ ⚠ Only Santa Fe carries both this and the bare EVR1001, and there the credits differ — the signature of one institution running the course in two shapes. Everywhere else the two forms are alternatives.

OCE1001 —Introduction to Oceanography Request a guide

Introduction to Oceanography — TWENTY-ONE public carriers and (GE CORE). ⚠⚠ In Florida this is not an elective curiosity: coastal water quality, red tide and harmful algal blooms, estuaries, sea-level rise and beach management are a large share of the state's environmental employment, and almost all of it is coastal.

GLY2010 —Physical Geology Request a guide

Physical Geology — nine carriers, (GE CORE). Aquifers, karst, sinkholes and groundwater movement. ⚠⚠ Florida drinks from a limestone aquifer and its springs, sinkholes and saltwater intrusion are geological problems, so this is closer to core than it looks.

⚠ ⚠⚠ Geology is fragmented SIX ways — GLY1010, GLY1010C, GLY1010L, GLY2010, GLY2010C and GLY2010L are all live at four to nine institutions each. Register by number, not by title.

PCB3043 —Ecology Guide

General Ecology — FIU, Florida State, Miami Dade, St Johns River, St Petersburg, USF and UWF. ⚠ The course where environmental science and biology are genuinely the same subject: populations, communities, energy and nutrient flow. ⚠⚠ It is also the course a habitat, wetland or restoration employer expects to see.

⚠ ⚠ PCB4043 Ecological Processes is a 4000-level version at Broward, FAMU, FAU and Indian River — a different number for approximately the same subject.

PCB3043L —Ecology Lab Guide

The ecology laboratory — FIU, Florida State, St Johns River, St Petersburg, USF and UWF. ⚠⚠ This is where sampling design, quadrats, transects, identification and data recording are actually learned, and those are the skills a field job tests in the first week.

BSC3052 —Conservation Biology Request a guide

Conservation Biology — FAU, Florida State, St Petersburg, UCF and UNF. Habitat loss, fragmentation, invasive species and restoration. ⚠ In Florida this is applied rather than theoretical: invasive species management and Everglades restoration are ongoing, funded programmes with permanent staff.

GIS2040 —Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Request a guide

Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems — ten public carriers. ⚠⚠⚠ THE MOST DIRECTLY HIREABLE COURSE ON THIS PAGE. Nearly every environmental job produces a map, most graduates cannot make one, and GIS appears in more environmental adverts than any other single named skill. ⚠ One course, and it changes the screening outcome.

⚠ ⚠ GIS1040 is the same subject at FAMU, Florida SouthWestern, Miami Dade and Santa Fe.

SWS1102 —Soils and Fertilizers Request a guide

Soils and Fertilizers — Florida Gateway, Hillsborough, Indian River and Palm Beach State. ⚠ Named because Florida's dominant water-quality problem is nutrient loading, and nutrient loading is a soils-and-fertiliser problem before it is a water problem. Springs, estuaries and lake restoration all come back to it.

EVR2861 —Introduction to Environmental Policy Guide

Introduction to Environmental Policy — Daytona State, FGCU and USF. ⚠⚠ The course that makes a science graduate legible to an agency. Almost all environmental work is done because a rule requires it, and a scientist who cannot name the rule is at a disadvantage against one who can.

EVR2647 —Environmental Site Assessment Guide

Environmental Site Assessment — Daytona State and Miami Dade. ⚠⚠⚠ Short, specific and directly hireable: Phase I environmental site assessments are a standing revenue line in Florida consulting, done on almost every commercial property transaction. ⚠ Two carriers only, so if it is not at your institution, look for it as a certificate or a continuing-education course.

EVR2630 —Hazardous Materials Risk Analysis Guide

Hazardous Materials Risk Analysis — Daytona State, FSCJ and Miami Dade. ⚠ Contaminated sites, remediation and the regulatory framework around them. Together with site assessment this is the compliance half of the field, and it is where the consulting jobs are.

EVR4940 —Environmental Internship Request a guide

Environmental Internship — FGCU, UCF, UNF and USF. ⚠⚠ Do it with an agency, a water management district or a consultancy rather than as a laboratory rotation, so you finish with regulatory vocabulary as well as technique. ⚠ It is also the cheapest way to find out whether you want field work, which is hot, wet and full of insects for much of the Florida year.

Where you can take these courses in Florida

39 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is how many of the 18 listed courses each one carries — it shows where the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.

FSU

Florida State University

9 of 18

SPC

St. Petersburg College

9 of 18

USF

University of South Florida

9 of 18

College of Central Florida

7 of 18

FIU

Florida International University

7 of 18

Hillsborough College

7 of 18

MDC

Miami Dade College

7 of 18

UWF

University of West Florida

7 of 18

DSC

Daytona State College

6 of 18

FGC

Florida Gateway College

6 of 18

PHSC

Pasco-Hernando State College

6 of 18

SFC

Santa FE College

6 of 18

TSC

Tallahassee State College

6 of 18

EFSC

Eastern Florida State College

5 of 18

GCSC

Gulf Coast State College

5 of 18

SJRSC

St. Johns River State College

5 of 18

SCFMS

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

5 of 18

UCF

University of Central Florida

5 of 18

University of Florida

5 of 18

UNF

University of North Florida

5 of 18

Broward College

4 of 18

FAMU

Florida A & M University

4 of 18

FAU

Florida Atlantic University

4 of 18

FGCU

Florida Gulf Coast University

4 of 18

FLPOLY

Florida Polytechnic University

4 of 18

FSWSC

Florida Southwestern State College

4 of 18

FSCJ

Florida State College at Jacksonville

4 of 18

IRSC

Indian River State College

4 of 18

NCF

New College of Florida

4 of 18

NFC

North Florida College

4 of 18

PBSC

Palm Beach State College

4 of 18

SSCF

Seminole State College of Florida

4 of 18

LSSC

Lake-Sumter State College

3 of 18

PESC

Pensacola State College

3 of 18

SFSC

South Florida State College

3 of 18

Valencia College

3 of 18

NWFSC

Northwest Florida State College

2 of 18

PSC

Polk State College

2 of 18

CFK

The College of the Florida Keys

2 of 18

Sources

Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before committing to a route.

BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Environmental Scientists and Specialists — $82,220 median, 93,400 jobs, +6% for 2025-35, about 7,300 annual openings, bachelor's entry. Source of the industry table quoted on this page — federal government $116,110 against consulting's $79,320 — and of the note that some employers prefer certification.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Environmental Science and Protection Technicians — $55,090 median, 36,400 jobs, +7% for 2025-35 (2,500 new jobs), about 5,300 annual openings, associate entry. The two-year route into the same work.
O*NET — Environmental Scientists and Specialists (19-2041.00), Florida wages — The wage table on this page. Florida is below the national figure at every percentile, by $9,920 at the 10th, $21,390 at the median and $30,720 at the 90th — among the widest gaps on this site, exceeded so far only by zoologists and wildlife biologists.
IPEDS completions — Florida, CIP 03 — Environmental Science (03.0104) 456 credentials at 14 institutions; Environmental Studies (03.0103) 225 at five; plus the adjacent codes this site cannot yet browse — Forestry 130, Wildlife and Wildlands 113, Natural Resources Management 69, Fishery Sciences 40, almost all at UF.
SCNS statewide course file — EVR, GLY, OCE, PCB, SWS carrier counts — Source of the four-identifier measurement for introductory environmental science across 37 institutions, the six-way geology split, and the (GE CORE) markers in the statewide titles.
Florida Statutes s. 1007.25 — general education core course options — The provision behind the (GE CORE) marker: a core course satisfies its general-education subject area at every Florida public college and university and carries that status in transfer.
Florida Statutes ch. 492 — Professional Geology — Florida licenses professional geologists. Named because groundwater and contaminated-site work frequently requires a licensed geologist's sign-off, and it is one of the few checkable credentials available in this otherwise unregulated field.

Last updated 23 September 2026.