Games artists 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, games artists rate their career happiness 3.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 11% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy games artists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Video game level editor | 4.3 | $90k |
| Video game designer | 4.2 | $90k |
| Video game producer | 4.1 | $90k |
| Cartoonist | 4.0 | $30k |
| Games artist | 3.9 | $90k |
| Illustrator | 3.9 | $61k |
| Recording engineer | 3.9 | $34k |
| Art director | 3.8 | $101k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are games artists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do games artists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as games artists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are games artist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are games artists making the best use of their abilities?
Are games artists happy with their salary?
Games artists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most games artists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked games artists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
276 games artists
22% of games artists rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of games artists rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of games artists rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of games artists rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of games artists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do games artists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, games artists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.7/5. Unlike many careers, games artists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become games artists.
We asked games artists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
284 games artists
35% of games artists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of games artists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of games artists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
8% of games artists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
7% of games artists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as games artists?
Games artists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of games artists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked games artists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
291 games artists
42% of games artists rated their career fit 5 stars
33% of games artists rated their career fit 4 stars
18% of games artists rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of games artists rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of games artists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a games artist’s work environment?
As a whole, games artists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of games artists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a games artist.
We asked games artists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
291 games artists
40% of games artists rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of games artists rated their work environment 4 stars
18% of games artists rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of games artists rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of games artists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are games artists making the best use of their abilities?
Former games artists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.9/5. Most games artists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a games artist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked games artists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
284 games artists
37% of games artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
31% of games artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of games artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
7% of games artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of games artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars