UX designers 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, UX designers rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 30% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy UX designers 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
Solution architect
3.7
$100k
Computer hardware engineer
3.5
$95k
UX designer
3.5
$106k
Multimedia animator
3.5
$33k
Industrial designer
3.5
$62k
App developer
3.5
$71k
Full stack developer
3.4
$70k

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

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

Are UX designers happy with their salary?

UX designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of UX designers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

929 UX designers

5 Star
21%

21% of UX designers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of UX designers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of UX designers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of UX designers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of UX designers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do UX designers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, UX designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

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

3.1 out of 5 stars

943 UX designers

5 Star
16%

16% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

UX designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of UX designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.0 out of 5 stars

952 UX designers

5 Star
35%

35% of UX designers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
41%

41% of UX designers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of UX designers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of UX designers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of UX designers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a UX designer’s work environment?

As a whole, UX designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of UX designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a UX designer.

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

3.7 out of 5 stars

941 UX designers

5 Star
26%

26% of UX designers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
38%

38% of UX designers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of UX designers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of UX designers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of UX designers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are UX designers making the best use of their abilities?

Former UX designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most UX designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a UX designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

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

3.4 out of 5 stars

948 UX designers

5 Star
18%

18% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars