Tellers 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, tellers rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 4% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy tellers 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
Office clerk
2.6
$16k
Actuary
2.5
$121k
Financial clerk
2.5
$39k
Loan officer
2.5
$62k
Underwriter
2.5
$57k
Teller
2.5
$19k
Maitre d'
2.5
$1k
Auditor
2.5
$54k
Shipping and receiving clerk
2.4
$20k
Postal service worker
2.4
$27k

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

Are tellers happy with their salary?

Tellers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Tellers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

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

2.6 out of 5 stars

3173 tellers

5 Star
5%

5% of tellers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
19%

19% of tellers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of tellers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
25%

25% of tellers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
21%

21% of tellers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do tellers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, tellers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.0/5. The majority of tellers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

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

2.0 out of 5 stars

3184 tellers

5 Star
3%

3% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
6%

6% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
30%

30% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
42%

42% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Tellers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of tellers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

3426 tellers

5 Star
26%

26% of tellers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of tellers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of tellers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of tellers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of tellers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a teller’s work environment?

As a whole, tellers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

3414 tellers

5 Star
15%

15% of tellers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of tellers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of tellers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of tellers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of tellers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are tellers making the best use of their abilities?

Former tellers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.3/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a teller.

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

2.3 out of 5 stars

3434 tellers

5 Star
7%

7% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
11%

11% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
33%

33% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars