Historians rate their happiness above average.
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, historians rate their career happiness 3.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 27% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy historians 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Humanitarian | 3.8 | $38k |
| Curator | 3.7 | $60k |
| Anthropologist | 3.7 | $62k |
| Archaeologist | 3.6 | $62k |
| Historian | 3.6 | $64k |
| Museum conservator | 3.5 | $48k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are historians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do historians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as historians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are historian’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are historians making the best use of their abilities?
Are historians happy with their salary?
Historians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Historians tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked historians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
292 historians
11% of historians rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of historians rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of historians rated their compensation 3 stars
29% of historians rated their compensation 2 stars
19% of historians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do historians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, historians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Unlike many careers, historians have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become historians.
We asked historians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
308 historians
25% of historians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
26% of historians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of historians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
19% of historians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
7% of historians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as historians?
Historians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of historians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked historians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
346 historians
33% of historians rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of historians rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of historians rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of historians rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of historians rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a historian’s work environment?
As a whole, historians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of historians enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a historian.
We asked historians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
347 historians
23% of historians rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of historians rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of historians rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of historians rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of historians rated their work environment 1 stars
Are historians making the best use of their abilities?
Former historians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.6/5. Most historians surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a historian, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked historians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
348 historians
28% of historians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
31% of historians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
22% of historians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
14% of historians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
5% of historians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars