Funeral directors 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, funeral directors rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 49% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy funeral directors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aesthetician | 3.3 | $37k |
| Librarian | 3.3 | $59k |
| Painting, coating & decorating worker | 3.2 | $37k |
| Tailor | 3.2 | $31k |
| Lifeguard | 3.2 | $26k |
| Funeral director | 3.2 | $49k |
| Translator | 3.1 | $35k |
| Nail technician | 3.1 | $29k |
| Engraver | 3.1 | $37k |
| Locksmith | 3.1 | $47k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are funeral directors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do funeral directors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as funeral directors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are funeral director’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are funeral directors making the best use of their abilities?
Are funeral directors happy with their salary?
Funeral directors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Funeral directors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked funeral directors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
124 funeral directors
12% of funeral directors rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of funeral directors rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of funeral directors rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of funeral directors rated their compensation 2 stars
15% of funeral directors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do funeral directors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, funeral directors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, funeral directors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become funeral directors.
We asked funeral directors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
123 funeral directors
35% of funeral directors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
24% of funeral directors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of funeral directors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
11% of funeral directors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
10% of funeral directors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as funeral directors?
Funeral directors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of funeral directors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked funeral directors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
133 funeral directors
47% of funeral directors rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of funeral directors rated their career fit 4 stars
16% of funeral directors rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of funeral directors rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of funeral directors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a funeral director’s work environment?
As a whole, funeral directors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of funeral directors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a funeral director.
We asked funeral directors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
134 funeral directors
22% of funeral directors rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of funeral directors rated their work environment 4 stars
19% of funeral directors rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of funeral directors rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of funeral directors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are funeral directors making the best use of their abilities?
Former funeral directors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most funeral directors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a funeral director, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked funeral directors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
133 funeral directors
31% of funeral directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of funeral directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of funeral directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
17% of funeral directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
11% of funeral directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars