Kindergarten teachers are below average when it comes to 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, kindergarten teachers rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 36% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy kindergarten teachers 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
Educational administrator
3.2
$65k
Childcare worker
3.2
$2k
Preschool teacher
3.2
$9k
Special education teacher
3.1
$54k
Teacher
3.0
$38k
Kindergarten teacher
3.0
$26k
High school teacher
3.0
$47k
School psychologist
3.0
$80k
Elementary school teacher
2.9
$40k

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

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

Are kindergarten teachers happy with their salary?

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

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

2.5 out of 5 stars

253 kindergarten teachers

5 Star
6%

6% of kindergarten teachers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of kindergarten teachers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of kindergarten teachers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
27%

27% of kindergarten teachers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
24%

24% of kindergarten teachers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do kindergarten teachers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, kindergarten teachers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

256 kindergarten teachers

5 Star
14%

14% of kindergarten teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of kindergarten teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

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

2 Star
16%

16% of kindergarten teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of kindergarten teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Kindergarten teachers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of kindergarten teachers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.7 out of 5 stars

277 kindergarten teachers

5 Star
29%

29% of kindergarten teachers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of kindergarten teachers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of kindergarten teachers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of kindergarten teachers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of kindergarten teachers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a kindergarten teacher’s work environment?

As a whole, kindergarten teachers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

277 kindergarten teachers

5 Star
17%

17% of kindergarten teachers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of kindergarten teachers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
32%

32% of kindergarten teachers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of kindergarten teachers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of kindergarten teachers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are kindergarten teachers making the best use of their abilities?

Former kindergarten teachers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Kindergarten teachers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.9 out of 5 stars

279 kindergarten teachers

5 Star
13%

13% of kindergarten teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
22%

22% of kindergarten teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of kindergarten teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
26%

26% of kindergarten teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of kindergarten teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars