Brickmasons are one of the least happy careers in the United States.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, brickmasons rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 12% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy brickmasons are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Tile and marble setter
2.8
$48k
Sheet metal worker
2.7
$53k
Painter
2.7
$46k
Meter reader
2.7
$46k
Bus driver
2.7
$42k
Brickmason
2.7
$59k
Tool and die maker
2.7
$57k
Mining machine operator
2.7
$60k
Taxi driver
2.7
$26k
Machinist
2.7
$48k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are brickmasons happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do brickmasons find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as brickmasons?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are brickmason’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are brickmasons making the best use of their abilities?

Are brickmasons happy with their salary?

Brickmasons rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most brickmasons having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked brickmasons how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

86 brickmasons

5 Star
9%

9% of brickmasons rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of brickmasons rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of brickmasons rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of brickmasons rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of brickmasons rated their compensation 1 stars

Do brickmasons find their jobs meaningful?

On average, brickmasons rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of brickmasons struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

We asked brickmasons how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.5 out of 5 stars

86 brickmasons

5 Star
12%

12% of brickmasons rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
9%

9% of brickmasons rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of brickmasons rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
33%

33% of brickmasons rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
26%

26% of brickmasons rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as brickmasons?

Brickmasons rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.2/5. The majority of brickmasons don’t see personality fit as a hinderence in their career.

We asked brickmasons how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

89 brickmasons

5 Star
16%

16% of brickmasons rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of brickmasons rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
33%

33% of brickmasons rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of brickmasons rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of brickmasons rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a brickmason’s work environment?

As a whole, brickmasons rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked brickmasons how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

90 brickmasons

5 Star
14%

14% of brickmasons rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of brickmasons rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of brickmasons rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
18%

18% of brickmasons rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of brickmasons rated their work environment 1 stars

Are brickmasons making the best use of their abilities?

Former brickmasons on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Brickmasons tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked brickmasons how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

2.7 out of 5 stars

90 brickmasons

5 Star
10%

10% of brickmasons rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
16%

16% of brickmasons rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of brickmasons rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
33%

33% of brickmasons rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of brickmasons rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars