Journalists 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, journalists rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 35% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy journalists 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
Writer
4.1
$8k
Television writer
4.0
$36k
Photojournalist
4.0
$36k
Blogger
3.8
$26k
News anchor
3.7
$67k
Journalist
3.4
$51k
Editor
3.4
$32k
News reporter
3.2
$27k
Proofreader
3.1
$28k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are journalists happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do journalists find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as journalists?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are journalist’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are journalists making the best use of their abilities?

Are journalists happy with their salary?

Journalists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most journalists do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.

We asked journalists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.5 out of 5 stars

2652 journalists

5 Star
8%

8% of journalists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
14%

14% of journalists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of journalists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
30%

30% of journalists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
23%

23% of journalists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do journalists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, journalists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked journalists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

2702 journalists

5 Star
22%

22% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
9%

9% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as journalists?

Journalists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of journalists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked journalists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

2990 journalists

5 Star
26%

26% of journalists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
40%

40% of journalists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of journalists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of journalists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of journalists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a journalist’s work environment?

As a whole, journalists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of journalists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a journalist.

We asked journalists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

2973 journalists

5 Star
23%

23% of journalists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
35%

35% of journalists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of journalists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of journalists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of journalists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are journalists making the best use of their abilities?

Former journalists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most journalists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a journalist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked journalists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

2982 journalists

5 Star
23%

23% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars