News anchors 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, news anchors rate their career happiness 3.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 20% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy news anchors 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
Cinematographer
4.1
$40k
Television writer
4.0
$36k
Announcer
3.9
$27k
Blogger
3.8
$26k
News anchor
3.7
$67k
Executive film producer
3.6
$60k
Sports writer
3.6
$19k
Film producer
3.6
$68k
Casting director
3.6
$86k

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

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

Are news anchors happy with their salary?

News anchors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. News anchors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked news anchors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

132 news anchors

5 Star
14%

14% of news anchors rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of news anchors rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of news anchors rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of news anchors rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
23%

23% of news anchors rated their compensation 1 stars

Do news anchors find their jobs meaningful?

On average, news anchors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, news anchors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become news anchors.

We asked news anchors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

132 news anchors

5 Star
27%

27% of news anchors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of news anchors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of news anchors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of news anchors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of news anchors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as news anchors?

News anchors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of news anchors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked news anchors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

4.1 out of 5 stars

152 news anchors

5 Star
43%

43% of news anchors rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of news anchors rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
16%

16% of news anchors rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of news anchors rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of news anchors rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a news anchor’s work environment?

As a whole, news anchors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of news anchors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a news anchor.

We asked news anchors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

151 news anchors

5 Star
27%

27% of news anchors rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of news anchors rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of news anchors rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of news anchors rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of news anchors rated their work environment 1 stars

Are news anchors making the best use of their abilities?

Former news anchors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.7/5. Most news anchors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a news anchor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked news anchors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

150 news anchors

5 Star
29%

29% of news anchors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of news anchors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of news anchors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of news anchors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of news anchors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars