Drug & alcohol counselors 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, drug & alcohol counselors rate their career happiness 3.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 43% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy drug & alcohol counselors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Counselor | 3.5 | $55k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $61k |
| Recreation worker | 3.4 | $30k |
| Recreational therapist | 3.4 | $48k |
| Clinical psychologist | 3.3 | $80k |
| Drug & alcohol counselor | 3.3 | $32k |
| Marriage therapist | 3.2 | $50k |
| Community health worker | 3.2 | $47k |
| Mental health counselor | 3.1 | $36k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are drug & alcohol counselors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do drug & alcohol counselors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as drug & alcohol counselors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are drug & alcohol counselor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are drug & alcohol counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Are drug & alcohol counselors happy with their salary?
Drug & alcohol counselors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Drug & alcohol counselors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked drug & alcohol counselors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
318 drug & alcohol counselors
14% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their compensation 5 stars
12% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their compensation 3 stars
27% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do drug & alcohol counselors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, drug & alcohol counselors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.8/5. Unlike many careers, drug & alcohol counselors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become drug & alcohol counselors.
We asked drug & alcohol counselors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
323 drug & alcohol counselors
36% of drug & alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
31% of drug & alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
17% of drug & alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
10% of drug & alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of drug & alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as drug & alcohol counselors?
Drug & alcohol counselors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of drug & alcohol counselors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked drug & alcohol counselors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
350 drug & alcohol counselors
39% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a drug & alcohol counselor’s work environment?
As a whole, drug & alcohol counselors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of drug & alcohol counselors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a drug & alcohol counselor.
We asked drug & alcohol counselors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
347 drug & alcohol counselors
28% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are drug & alcohol counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Former drug & alcohol counselors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most drug & alcohol counselors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a drug & alcohol counselor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked drug & alcohol counselors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
351 drug & alcohol counselors
27% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
7% of drug & alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars