Ski patrollers 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, ski patrollers rate their career happiness 3.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 13% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy ski patrollers 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
Sculptor
4.1
$30k
Beekeeper
3.9
$29k
Ski patroller
3.9
$29k
Recording engineer
3.9
$34k
Calligrapher
3.8
$62k
Organic farmer
3.8
$24k

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

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

Are ski patrollers happy with their salary?

Ski patrollers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most ski patrollers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.

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

2.5 out of 5 stars

84 ski patrollers

5 Star
7%

7% of ski patrollers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
15%

15% of ski patrollers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of ski patrollers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
32%

32% of ski patrollers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
21%

21% of ski patrollers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do ski patrollers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, ski patrollers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

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

3.2 out of 5 stars

83 ski patrollers

5 Star
22%

22% of ski patrollers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
19%

19% of ski patrollers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of ski patrollers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of ski patrollers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of ski patrollers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Ski patrollers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of ski patrollers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.1 out of 5 stars

92 ski patrollers

5 Star
38%

38% of ski patrollers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
38%

38% of ski patrollers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of ski patrollers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
3%

3% of ski patrollers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of ski patrollers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a ski patroller’s work environment?

As a whole, ski patrollers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.4/5. A solid majority of ski patrollers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a ski patroller.

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

4.4 out of 5 stars

91 ski patrollers

5 Star
59%

59% of ski patrollers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of ski patrollers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
9%

9% of ski patrollers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
4%

4% of ski patrollers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of ski patrollers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are ski patrollers making the best use of their abilities?

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

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

3.3 out of 5 stars

92 ski patrollers

5 Star
21%

21% of ski patrollers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of ski patrollers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of ski patrollers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
15%

15% of ski patrollers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
10%

10% of ski patrollers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars