Counseling psychologists rate their happiness above average.

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, counseling psychologists rate their career happiness 3.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 22% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy counseling psychologists 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
Industrial organizational psychologist
3.9
$105k
Career counselor
3.8
$42k
Psychiatrist
3.8
N/A
Counseling psychologist
3.6
$80k
Counselor
3.5
$55k
Psychologist
3.5
$56k
School counselor
3.5
$61k
Clinical psychologist
3.3
$80k

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

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

Are counseling psychologists happy with their salary?

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

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

66 counseling psychologists

5 Star
23%

23% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
14%

14% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
15%

15% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do counseling psychologists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, counseling psychologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, counseling psychologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become counseling psychologists.

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

3.9 out of 5 stars

70 counseling psychologists

5 Star
39%

39% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
1%

1% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Counseling psychologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of counseling psychologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.3 out of 5 stars

80 counseling psychologists

5 Star
53%

53% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
11%

11% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
4%

4% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a counseling psychologist’s work environment?

As a whole, counseling psychologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of counseling psychologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a counseling psychologist.

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

4.0 out of 5 stars

75 counseling psychologists

5 Star
39%

39% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are counseling psychologists making the best use of their abilities?

Former counseling psychologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most counseling psychologists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a counseling psychologist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

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

3.8 out of 5 stars

78 counseling psychologists

5 Star
32%

32% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

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

2 Star
10%

10% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars