Customs brokers 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, customs brokers rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 7% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy customs brokers 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
Tax preparer
2.7
$43k
Delivery service driver
2.6
$15k
Credit counselor
2.6
$6k
Traffic technician
2.6
$47k
Credit analyst
2.6
$67k
Customs broker
2.6
$67k
Accountant
2.6
$56k
Actuary
2.5
$121k
Financial clerk
2.5
$39k
Loan officer
2.5
$62k

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

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

Are customs brokers happy with their salary?

Customs brokers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Customs brokers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

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

2.7 out of 5 stars

65 customs brokers

5 Star
14%

14% of customs brokers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of customs brokers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
23%

23% of customs brokers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
25%

25% of customs brokers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do customs brokers find their jobs meaningful?

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

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

2.5 out of 5 stars

65 customs brokers

5 Star
15%

15% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
9%

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

3 Star
22%

22% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
34%

34% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Customs brokers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of customs brokers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.4 out of 5 stars

70 customs brokers

5 Star
29%

29% of customs brokers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of customs brokers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of customs brokers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
16%

16% of customs brokers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a customs broker’s work environment?

As a whole, customs brokers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

71 customs brokers

5 Star
25%

25% of customs brokers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of customs brokers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
18%

18% of customs brokers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are customs brokers making the best use of their abilities?

Former customs brokers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Customs brokers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.8 out of 5 stars

69 customs brokers

5 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
23%

23% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
25%

25% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars