School counselors 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, school counselors rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 33% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy school 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Career counselor | 3.8 | $42k |
| Counseling psychologist | 3.6 | $80k |
| Clergy member | 3.6 | $50k |
| School principal | 3.5 | $98k |
| Counselor | 3.5 | $55k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $61k |
| Graduate teaching assistant | 3.4 | $33k |
| Recreational therapist | 3.4 | $48k |
| Clinical psychologist | 3.3 | $80k |
| Drug and alcohol counselor | 3.3 | $32k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are school counselors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do school counselors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as school counselors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are school counselor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are school counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Are school counselors happy with their salary?
School counselors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most school counselors having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked school counselors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
506 school counselors
13% of school counselors rated their compensation 5 stars
23% of school counselors rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of school counselors rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of school counselors rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of school counselors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do school counselors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, school counselors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.7/5. Unlike many careers, school counselors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become school counselors.
We asked school counselors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
509 school counselors
30% of school counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
32% of school counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of school counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of school counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of school counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as school counselors?
School counselors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of school counselors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked school counselors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
554 school counselors
40% of school counselors rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of school counselors rated their career fit 4 stars
17% of school counselors rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of school counselors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of school counselors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a school counselor’s work environment?
As a whole, school counselors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of school counselors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a school counselor.
We asked school counselors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
551 school counselors
30% of school counselors rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of school counselors rated their work environment 4 stars
19% of school counselors rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of school counselors rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of school counselors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are school counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Former school counselors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most school counselors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a school counselor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked school counselors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
546 school counselors
22% of school counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of school counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of school counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
18% of school counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of school counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars