Loan officers 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, loan officers rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 5% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy loan officers 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
Customs broker
2.6
$75k
Accountant
2.6
$77k
Actuary
2.5
$106k
Sales representative
2.5
$62k
Financial clerk
2.5
$46k
Loan officer
2.5
$63k
Underwriter
2.5
$76k
Teller
2.5
$36k
Auditor
2.5
$77k
Insurance sales agent
2.3
$50k

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

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

Are loan officers happy with their salary?

Loan officers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most loan officers having generally positive views of their salary.

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

3.0 out of 5 stars

919 loan officers

5 Star
12%

12% of loan officers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of loan officers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of loan officers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of loan officers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
15%

15% of loan officers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do loan officers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, loan officers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of loan officers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

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

2.3 out of 5 stars

919 loan officers

5 Star
6%

6% of loan officers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
8%

8% of loan officers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of loan officers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
29%

29% of loan officers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
32%

32% of loan officers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Loan officers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of loan officers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.4 out of 5 stars

971 loan officers

5 Star
22%

22% of loan officers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of loan officers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of loan officers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of loan officers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
9%

9% of loan officers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a loan officer’s work environment?

As a whole, loan officers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

964 loan officers

5 Star
14%

14% of loan officers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of loan officers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of loan officers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of loan officers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of loan officers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are loan officers making the best use of their abilities?

Former loan officers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.6/5. Loan officers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.6 out of 5 stars

969 loan officers

5 Star
10%

10% of loan officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
15%

15% of loan officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of loan officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
27%

27% of loan officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
22%

22% of loan officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars