Community health workers are about average in terms of 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, community health workers rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 48% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy community health workers 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
Phlebotomist
3.3
$16k
Nutritionist
3.3
$32k
Physical therapist
3.3
$61k
Marriage and family therapist
3.2
$59k
Radiation therapist
3.2
$84k
Community health worker
3.2
$28k
Medical assistant
3.2
$20k
Childcare program administrator
3.2
$31k
Childcare worker
3.2
$2k
Anesthesiologist assistant
3.2
$41k

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

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

Are community health workers happy with their salary?

Community health workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Community health workers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked community health workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

203 community health workers

5 Star
7%

7% of community health workers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
21%

21% of community health workers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
33%

33% of community health workers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
23%

23% of community health workers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of community health workers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do community health workers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, community health workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, community health workers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become community health workers.

We asked community health workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

208 community health workers

5 Star
25%

25% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as community health workers?

Community health workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of community health workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked community health workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

207 community health workers

5 Star
32%

32% of community health workers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of community health workers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of community health workers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
6%

6% of community health workers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of community health workers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a community health worker’s work environment?

As a whole, community health workers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of community health workers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a community health worker.

We asked community health workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

207 community health workers

5 Star
24%

24% of community health workers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of community health workers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of community health workers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of community health workers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of community health workers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are community health workers making the best use of their abilities?

Former community health workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most community health workers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked community health workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

209 community health workers

5 Star
21%

21% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
23%

23% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars