Rehabilitation counselors 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, rehabilitation counselors rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 35% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy rehabilitation counselors 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
Childcare program administrator
3.2
$47k
Childcare worker
3.2
$27k
Special education teacher
3.1
$53k
Mental health counselor
3.1
$36k
Rehabilitation counselor
3.0
$39k
School psychologist
3.0
$80k
Occupational therapist assistant
3.0
$62k
Dental assistant
3.0
$39k
Hearing aid specialist
2.9
$60k

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

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

Are rehabilitation counselors happy with their salary?

Rehabilitation counselors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Rehabilitation counselors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

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

3.0 out of 5 stars

162 rehabilitation counselors

5 Star
15%

15% of rehabilitation counselors rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of rehabilitation counselors rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of rehabilitation counselors rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of rehabilitation counselors rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of rehabilitation counselors rated their compensation 1 stars

Do rehabilitation counselors find their jobs meaningful?

On average, rehabilitation counselors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, rehabilitation counselors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become rehabilitation counselors.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

163 rehabilitation counselors

5 Star
23%

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

4 Star
34%

34% of rehabilitation counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of rehabilitation counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of rehabilitation counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of rehabilitation counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Rehabilitation counselors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of rehabilitation counselors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.9 out of 5 stars

184 rehabilitation counselors

5 Star
34%

34% of rehabilitation counselors rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of rehabilitation counselors rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of rehabilitation counselors rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of rehabilitation counselors rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of rehabilitation counselors rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a rehabilitation counselor’s work environment?

As a whole, rehabilitation counselors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of rehabilitation counselors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a rehabilitation counselor.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

182 rehabilitation counselors

5 Star
23%

23% of rehabilitation counselors rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of rehabilitation counselors rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of rehabilitation counselors rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of rehabilitation counselors rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of rehabilitation counselors rated their work environment 1 stars

Are rehabilitation counselors making the best use of their abilities?

Former rehabilitation counselors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most rehabilitation counselors are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

184 rehabilitation counselors

5 Star
17%

17% of rehabilitation counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of rehabilitation counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of rehabilitation counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of rehabilitation counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of rehabilitation counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars