Pathologists are below average when it comes to 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, pathologists rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 40% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy pathologists 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
Geneticist
3.2
$83k
Molecular biologist
3.2
$83k
Family practitioner
3.1
$201k
Chiropractor
3.1
$75k
Pathologist
3.1
$201k
Microbiologist
3.1
$79k
Dentist
3.0
$160k
Immunologist
3.0
$201k
Surgical technologist
3.0
$49k

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

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

Are pathologists happy with their salary?

Pathologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of pathologists are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

35 pathologists

5 Star
29%

29% of pathologists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of pathologists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of pathologists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of pathologists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of pathologists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do pathologists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, pathologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

35 pathologists

5 Star
23%

23% of pathologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of pathologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of pathologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of pathologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of pathologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Pathologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of pathologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.7 out of 5 stars

36 pathologists

5 Star
36%

36% of pathologists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of pathologists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of pathologists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of pathologists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of pathologists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a pathologist’s work environment?

As a whole, pathologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.4 out of 5 stars

36 pathologists

5 Star
31%

31% of pathologists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of pathologists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
31%

31% of pathologists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
8%

8% of pathologists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of pathologists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are pathologists making the best use of their abilities?

Former pathologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most pathologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

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

3.3 out of 5 stars

36 pathologists

5 Star
28%

28% of pathologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of pathologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of pathologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
25%

25% of pathologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of pathologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars