Mayors 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, mayors rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 29% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy mayors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Judge | 4.0 | $152k |
| Legislator | 3.5 | $40k |
| Arbitrator | 3.5 | $49k |
| Lobbyist | 3.4 | $50k |
| Political scientist | 3.4 | $45k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are mayors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do mayors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as mayors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are mayor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are mayors making the best use of their abilities?
Are mayors happy with their salary?
Mayors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Mayors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked mayors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
13 mayors
38% of mayors rated their compensation 5 stars
8% of mayors rated their compensation 4 stars
38% of mayors rated their compensation 3 stars
15% of mayors rated their compensation 2 stars
Do mayors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, mayors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.2/5. Unlike many careers, mayors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become mayors.
We asked mayors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
13 mayors
46% of mayors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
31% of mayors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of mayors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as mayors?
Mayors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of mayors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked mayors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
14 mayors
36% of mayors rated their career fit 5 stars
43% of mayors rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of mayors rated their career fit 3 stars
How enjoyable is a mayor’s work environment?
As a whole, mayors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of mayors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a mayor.
We asked mayors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
14 mayors
43% of mayors rated their work environment 5 stars
21% of mayors rated their work environment 4 stars
21% of mayors rated their work environment 3 stars
7% of mayors rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of mayors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are mayors making the best use of their abilities?
Former mayors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.0/5. Most mayors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a mayor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked mayors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
14 mayors
43% of mayors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
29% of mayors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
14% of mayors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
14% of mayors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars