Chemists are below average when it comes to happiness.
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, chemists rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 28% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy chemists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Materials scientist | 3.2 | $88k |
| Cartographer | 3.1 | $63k |
| Biotechnician | 3.1 | $45k |
| Food science technologist | 3.1 | $69k |
| Chemist | 2.9 | $72k |
| Environmental consultant | 2.8 | $71k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are chemists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do chemists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as chemists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are chemist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are chemists making the best use of their abilities?