Tattoo artists 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, tattoo artists 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 tattoo artists 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
Craft artist
4.0
$5k
Potter
4.0
$28k
Cartoonist
4.0
$30k
Illustrator
3.9
$15k
Calligrapher
3.8
$75k
Tattoo artist
3.8
$39k
Set designer
3.8
$28k
Art therapist
3.7
$48k
Multimedia animator
3.5
$33k
Costume attendant
3.4
$47k

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

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

Are tattoo artists happy with their salary?

Tattoo artists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most tattoo artists having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked tattoo artists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

101 tattoo artists

5 Star
28%

28% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
16%

16% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do tattoo artists find their jobs meaningful?

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

We asked tattoo artists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

103 tattoo artists

5 Star
29%

29% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
10%

10% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as tattoo artists?

Tattoo artists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of tattoo artists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked tattoo artists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

4.3 out of 5 stars

106 tattoo artists

5 Star
54%

54% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
14%

14% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
1%

1% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a tattoo artist’s work environment?

As a whole, tattoo artists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of tattoo artists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a tattoo artist.

We asked tattoo artists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

108 tattoo artists

5 Star
42%

42% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
8%

8% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are tattoo artists making the best use of their abilities?

Former tattoo artists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most tattoo artists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a tattoo artist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked tattoo artists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

108 tattoo artists

5 Star
41%

41% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
15%

15% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
15%

15% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars