Pastry chefs are about average in terms of happiness.
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, pastry chefs rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 46% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy pastry chefs 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Personal chef | 3.6 | $43k |
| Cake designer | 3.6 | $22k |
| Pastry chef | 3.2 | $26k |
| Baker | 3.1 | $30k |
| Bartender | 3.0 | $26k |
| Culinary chef | 2.9 | $50k |
| Barista | 2.9 | $25k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are pastry chefs happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do pastry chefs find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as pastry chefs?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are pastry chef’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are pastry chefs making the best use of their abilities?
Are pastry chefs happy with their salary?
Pastry chefs rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.3/5. Most pastry chefs do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked pastry chefs how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
515 pastry chefs
6% of pastry chefs rated their compensation 5 stars
11% of pastry chefs rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of pastry chefs rated their compensation 3 stars
31% of pastry chefs rated their compensation 2 stars
29% of pastry chefs rated their compensation 1 stars
Do pastry chefs find their jobs meaningful?
On average, pastry chefs rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most pastry chefs aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked pastry chefs how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
523 pastry chefs
12% of pastry chefs rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of pastry chefs rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of pastry chefs rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of pastry chefs rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
19% of pastry chefs rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as pastry chefs?
Pastry chefs rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of pastry chefs find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked pastry chefs how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
576 pastry chefs
33% of pastry chefs rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of pastry chefs rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of pastry chefs rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of pastry chefs rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of pastry chefs rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a pastry chef’s work environment?
As a whole, pastry chefs 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 pastry chefs how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
573 pastry chefs
15% of pastry chefs rated their work environment 5 stars
27% of pastry chefs rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of pastry chefs rated their work environment 3 stars
21% of pastry chefs rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of pastry chefs rated their work environment 1 stars
Are pastry chefs making the best use of their abilities?
Former pastry chefs on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most pastry chefs are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked pastry chefs how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
572 pastry chefs
18% of pastry chefs rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of pastry chefs rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of pastry chefs rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
19% of pastry chefs rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of pastry chefs rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars