Costume designers are one of the happiest 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, costume designers rate their career happiness 4.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 11% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy costume designers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Craft artist | 4.0 | $36k |
| Costume designer | 4.0 | $26k |
| Sewer | 3.9 | $30k |
| Seamstress | 3.7 | $26k |
| Exhibit designer | 3.7 | $55k |
| Makeup artist | 3.7 | $135k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are costume designers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do costume designers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as costume designers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are costume designer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are costume designers making the best use of their abilities?
Are costume designers happy with their salary?
Costume designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most costume designers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked costume designers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
188 costume designers
11% of costume designers rated their compensation 5 stars
15% of costume designers rated their compensation 4 stars
19% of costume designers rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of costume designers rated their compensation 2 stars
30% of costume designers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do costume designers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, costume designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, costume designers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become costume designers.
We asked costume designers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
193 costume designers
31% of costume designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
27% of costume designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
21% of costume designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
13% of costume designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
8% of costume designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as costume designers?
Costume designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of costume designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked costume designers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
226 costume designers
48% of costume designers rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of costume designers rated their career fit 4 stars
15% of costume designers rated their career fit 3 stars
2% of costume designers rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of costume designers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a costume designer’s work environment?
As a whole, costume designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of costume designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a costume designer.
We asked costume designers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
225 costume designers
37% of costume designers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of costume designers rated their work environment 4 stars
18% of costume designers rated their work environment 3 stars
8% of costume designers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of costume designers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are costume designers making the best use of their abilities?
Former costume designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.9/5. Most costume designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a costume designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked costume designers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
224 costume designers
34% of costume designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
35% of costume designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of costume designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
8% of costume designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of costume designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars