Substance abuse social workers are one of the least happy 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, substance abuse social workers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 12% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy substance abuse social workers 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
Personal care aide
2.8
$25k
Psychiatric technician
2.8
$23k
Family social worker
2.8
$28k
Healthcare social worker
2.8
$47k
Speech language pathologist
2.7
$52k
Substance abuse social worker
2.7
$51k

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

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

Are substance abuse social workers happy with their salary?

Substance abuse social workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most substance abuse social workers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.

We asked substance abuse social workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.4 out of 5 stars

59 substance abuse social workers

5 Star
3%

3% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
15%

15% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
37%

37% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
20%

20% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do substance abuse social workers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, substance abuse social workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.3/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked substance abuse social workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

61 substance abuse social workers

5 Star
20%

20% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as substance abuse social workers?

Substance abuse social workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of substance abuse social workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked substance abuse social workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

65 substance abuse social workers

5 Star
25%

25% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
38%

38% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a substance abuse social worker’s work environment?

As a whole, substance abuse social workers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked substance abuse social workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

65 substance abuse social workers

5 Star
11%

11% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
37%

37% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
15%

15% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are substance abuse social workers making the best use of their abilities?

Former substance abuse social workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Substance abuse social workers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked substance abuse social workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

64 substance abuse social workers

5 Star
13%

13% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
9%

9% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars