Piano accompanists 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, piano accompanists rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy piano accompanists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Audio engineer | 3.9 | $28k |
| Recording engineer | 3.9 | $34k |
| Music promoter | 3.8 | $31k |
| Piano accompanist | 3.8 | $47k |
| Live sound engineer | 3.8 | $31k |
| Luthier | 3.7 | $31k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are piano accompanists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do piano accompanists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as piano accompanists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are piano accompanist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are piano accompanists making the best use of their abilities?
Are piano accompanists happy with their salary?
Piano accompanists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Piano accompanists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked piano accompanists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
148 piano accompanists
15% of piano accompanists rated their compensation 5 stars
20% of piano accompanists rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of piano accompanists rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of piano accompanists rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of piano accompanists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do piano accompanists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, piano accompanists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, piano accompanists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become piano accompanists.
We asked piano accompanists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
150 piano accompanists
25% of piano accompanists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
29% of piano accompanists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of piano accompanists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
14% of piano accompanists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of piano accompanists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as piano accompanists?
Piano accompanists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of piano accompanists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked piano accompanists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
163 piano accompanists
45% of piano accompanists rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of piano accompanists rated their career fit 4 stars
12% of piano accompanists rated their career fit 3 stars
5% of piano accompanists rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of piano accompanists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a piano accompanist’s work environment?
As a whole, piano accompanists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of piano accompanists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a piano accompanist.
We asked piano accompanists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
162 piano accompanists
37% of piano accompanists rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of piano accompanists rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of piano accompanists rated their work environment 3 stars
4% of piano accompanists rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of piano accompanists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are piano accompanists making the best use of their abilities?
Former piano accompanists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most piano accompanists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a piano accompanist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked piano accompanists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
164 piano accompanists
32% of piano accompanists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of piano accompanists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of piano accompanists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of piano accompanists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of piano accompanists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars