Licensed practical nurses are one of the least happy 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, licensed practical nurses rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 17% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy licensed practical nurses 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
Cardiovascular technologist
2.9
$61k
Orthotist
2.9
$75k
Personal care aide
2.8
$26k
Home health aide
2.8
$22k
Psychiatric technician
2.8
$37k
Licensed practical nurse
2.8
$48k
Medical laboratory technologist
2.8
$46k
Pharmacy technician
2.8
$37k
Medical administrative assistant
2.8
$37k
Clinical nurse specialist
2.8
$78k

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

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

Are licensed practical nurses happy with their salary?

Licensed practical nurses rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Licensed practical nurses tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked licensed practical nurses how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

404 licensed practical nurses

5 Star
9%

9% of licensed practical nurses rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of licensed practical nurses rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
33%

33% of licensed practical nurses rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of licensed practical nurses rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of licensed practical nurses rated their compensation 1 stars

Do licensed practical nurses find their jobs meaningful?

On average, licensed practical nurses 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 licensed practical nurses how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

407 licensed practical nurses

5 Star
18%

18% of licensed practical nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of licensed practical nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of licensed practical nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of licensed practical nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of licensed practical nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as licensed practical nurses?

Licensed practical nurses rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of licensed practical nurses find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked licensed practical nurses how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

444 licensed practical nurses

5 Star
29%

29% of licensed practical nurses rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
35%

35% of licensed practical nurses rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of licensed practical nurses rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of licensed practical nurses rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of licensed practical nurses rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a licensed practical nurse’s work environment?

As a whole, licensed practical nurses 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 licensed practical nurses how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

444 licensed practical nurses

5 Star
17%

17% of licensed practical nurses rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of licensed practical nurses rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of licensed practical nurses rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
18%

18% of licensed practical nurses rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of licensed practical nurses rated their work environment 1 stars

Are licensed practical nurses making the best use of their abilities?

Former licensed practical nurses on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Most licensed practical nurses are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked licensed practical nurses how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

453 licensed practical nurses

5 Star
14%

14% of licensed practical nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of licensed practical nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of licensed practical nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of licensed practical nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of licensed practical nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars