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