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Engineering & technical · Analyzing & Problem-solving

Geoscientist: what the job actually is

Studying rock, soil and water to find resources, assess hazards and answer where it is safe to build, dig or drill.

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Geoscientist: quick facts

Geoscientist salary in Ontario: the median pay is $57.69 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$57.69 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$33.65 to $79.49 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
2,900
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 21102. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Studying the Earth to answer practical questions: where a mineral deposit might be, where groundwater flows, whether the ground under a building is stable, whether a site is contaminated.
  • Job Bank's group covers geologists, geochemists, geophysicists and others, and says geoscientists require a university degree in geology, geochemistry, geophysics or a related discipline.
  • The occupation is regulated in Ontario. Job Bank says registration with a provincial or territorial association is mandatory to practice in all provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island and the Yukon, and the Ontario body is Professional Geoscientists Ontario (PGO).
  • The work splits between field and desk. In the field you collect samples and measurements. At the desk you analyse the data, map it and write the report that somebody relies on.
  • Results are reports and maps for clients such as mining, environmental, engineering and government organisations. A lot of the job is explaining uncertainty clearly.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 6:30 — Pack the truck: sample bags, GPS, hammer, notebook, first aid kit, and the day's map.
  2. 7:30 — Drive to the site. In the field you may be far from a road and far from a phone signal.
  3. 8:30 — Walk a traverse, record what you see at each stop, and take samples with photos and coordinates.
  4. 11:00 — Weather turns. You adjust the plan, because no outcrop is worth being cold and lost.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch on a rock.
  6. 13:00 — More sampling, then a longer walk back, carrying the samples.
  7. 16:00 — Back at camp or the motel. Label and log everything, and enter the data before you forget.
  8. 18:00 — Evening: update the map with the day's data and plan tomorrow's route.
  9. 19:30 — Phone call with the project manager about what you found and what changes.
  10. 21:00 — Sleep. Next week you may be at a desk doing the same work with a screen and a report deadline.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like questions that need evidence and are happy to say what you do not yet know.
  • You enjoy being outdoors and doing physical fieldwork, and then working on the data at a desk.
  • You like maps, data, and combining chemistry, physics and geography.
  • You are comfortable writing reports that other people will rely on.
  • You are willing to study for a degree and then log years of experience for a licence.
You may hate this if
  • Fieldwork conditions would wear you down. Bugs, cold, heat, rain and long days walking with a pack are normal.
  • Remote postings and time away from home would be a problem. Field jobs can mean weeks in camps or motels far from where you live.
  • You want a sure job. Job Bank rates the Ontario outlook as Moderate and expects employment decline, so check the current numbers yourself.
  • You dislike long training. Registration needs a degree and then years of experience before you can sign off work as a professional.
  • Writing reports and justifying your conclusions to clients, regulators or a court bores you.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Get the degree

    Job Bank says geoscientists require a university degree in geology, geochemistry, geophysics or a related discipline. PGO recommends a four-year bachelor of science degree in an area of geoscience awarded by a Canadian university, or the equivalent. Compare programmes on ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca.

  2. Meet PGO's knowledge requirement

    PGO assesses your credentials against entry level knowledge requirements set by its Registration Committee, across five knowledge categories totalling 27 educational units at minimum.

  3. Log the experience, and consider joining as a trainee

    PGO's Guidelines to Registration say an applicant must demonstrate at least 48 months of verifiable, acceptable geoscience work experience. Someone with an acceptable degree who has not yet completed the 48 months may apply for the Geoscientist-in-Training (GIT) designation.

  4. Pass the ethics exam and register

    All registrants must successfully complete PGO's Professional Practice and Ethics (PPE) examination, and an applicant cannot be registered as a P.Geo. until it has been passed. PGO also describes a Limited P.Geo. route for people with other backgrounds, which needs a minimum three-year bachelor of science degree and at least 10 years of relevant experience.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Geoscientists and oceanographers: requirements in Ontario · Professional Geoscientists Ontario — Guidelines to Registration · Professional Geoscientists Ontario — Minimum knowledge requirements

The money

Geoscientist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$33.65
Low (hourly)
$57.69
Median (hourly)
$79.49
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 21102. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Geoscientist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

2,900
people work in this job in Ontario
30%
are women (48% across all jobs)
19%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Geoscientists and oceanographers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 21102). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the sciences and maths that are on offer: chemistry, physics, geography, earth and space science, and calculus if you can.
  • Join an outdoors, rocks or astronomy club if your school has one, and look for a local conservation area or a rock and mineral club that welcomes youth.
  • Learn to read a topographic map and a compass. It is a skill you can practise in a local park or on a printed map.
  • Look at the geoscience and earth science degree pages on ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca and note which Grade 12 courses they ask for.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Read the ground in your own neighbourhood like a geologist

About 75 minutes
  1. Go to a park, a creek bank or a gravel path in daylight on flat, safe ground, and not on an unstable cliff, road edge or private property. Pick up three different rocks or stones.
  2. Describe each one in your notebook: colour, texture, whether you can see crystals or layers, how heavy it feels. Take a photo beside a coin for scale. Do not take a hammer.
  3. Look up a free surficial or bedrock geology map for your area online and see which rock types are under your feet. Write down whether your three stones fit.
  4. Write three sentences on what the evidence tells you about how each stone got there, and one sentence on what you cannot tell.

What it tells you. If you enjoyed looking closely and writing what you could and could not conclude, the evidence-based, outdoor and desk mix may suit you. If you thought they were just rocks, believe it, since the work is built on that kind of close looking.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “How much of your year is in the field and how much at a desk?”
  2. “What is the worst fieldwork conditions you have worked in?”
  3. “How did you log your first years of experience toward your P.Geo.?”
  4. “Which area of geoscience would you choose again, and why?”
  5. “How secure is work in your sector, and what do people say about the next ten years?”
  6. “What would you tell a 17-year-old picking university courses?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, and some do. Job Bank's snapshot shows a share of geoscientists are self-employed. Consulting needs a professional licence for signing work, insurance and clients, and it comes after years of experience, so most geoscientists begin in a company, a consultancy or government.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a geoscientist make in Ontario?

The median pay for a geoscientist in Ontario is $57.69 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $33.65 to $79.49 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a geoscientist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a geoscientist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Get the degree; Meet PGO's knowledge requirement; Log the experience, and consider joining as a trainee.

How many people work as a geoscientist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 2,900 people working in this job in Ontario. 30% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.