Music arrangers are one of the happiest 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, music arrangers rate their career happiness 4.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 2% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy music arrangers 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
Music producer
4.3
$34k
Lyricist
4.3
$26k
Singer
4.3
$63k
Music artist
4.3
$63k
Performer
4.2
$37k

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

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

Are music arrangers happy with their salary?

Music arrangers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Music arrangers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

12 music arrangers

5 Star
8%

8% of music arrangers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of music arrangers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of music arrangers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
33%

33% of music arrangers rated their compensation 2 stars

Do music arrangers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, music arrangers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.8/5. Unlike many careers, music arrangers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become music arrangers.

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

3.8 out of 5 stars

12 music arrangers

5 Star
33%

33% of music arrangers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
42%

42% of music arrangers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
8%

8% of music arrangers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
8%

8% of music arrangers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of music arrangers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Music arrangers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of music arrangers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.3 out of 5 stars

15 music arrangers

5 Star
67%

67% of music arrangers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
13%

13% of music arrangers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
7%

7% of music arrangers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
7%

7% of music arrangers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of music arrangers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a music arranger’s work environment?

As a whole, music arrangers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.3/5. A solid majority of music arrangers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a music arranger.

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

4.3 out of 5 stars

14 music arrangers

5 Star
50%

50% of music arrangers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of music arrangers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
7%

7% of music arrangers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
7%

7% of music arrangers rated their work environment 2 stars

Are music arrangers making the best use of their abilities?

Former music arrangers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.5/5. Most music arrangers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a music arranger, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

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

4.5 out of 5 stars

14 music arrangers

5 Star
64%

64% of music arrangers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
21%

21% of music arrangers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
14%

14% of music arrangers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars