How To Become An Environmental Health Inspector: What It Is and Career Path

What is an environmental health inspector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an environmental health inspector. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.78 an hour? That's $49,471 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreEnvironmental Health InspectorUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $49,471

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.3

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.82%

Asian 8.05%

Black or African American 11.35%

Hispanic or Latino 15.24%

Unknown 4.45%

White 60.07%

Gender

female 49.07%

male 50.93%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.7

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an environmental health inspector

Explore environmental health inspector education requirements

Most common environmental health inspector degrees

Bachelor's

71.8 %

Master's

12.9 %

High School Diploma

7.1 %

Start to develop specific environmental health inspector skills

Skills	Percentages
Public Health	19.79%
Food Safety	19.17%
Safety Hazards	13.39%
Code Violations	7.21%
Swimming Pools	5.72%

Complete relevant environmental health inspector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New environmental health inspectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an environmental health inspector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real environmental health inspector resumes.

Research environmental health inspector duties and responsibilities

Manage NPDES permitting requirements in compliance assurance and permit interpretation.
Review and approve building permits and HACCP plans, and grant licenses to food service facilities.
Conduct subsistence quality assurance inspections in food handling establishments, evaluates and recommends corrective actions for unsanitary conditions.
Collect and process food samples using aseptic techniques, complete appropriate documentation and deliver to IDPH food borne illness investigation laboratory.

Prepare your environmental health inspector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your environmental health inspector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an environmental health inspector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Environmental Health Inspector Resume templates

Build a professional Environmental Health Inspector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Environmental Health Inspector resume.

Apply for environmental health inspector jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an environmental health inspector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do environmental health inspectors rate their job?