Bus drivers 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, bus drivers 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 bus drivers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation planner | 2.8 | $62k |
| Tile and marble setter | 2.8 | $24k |
| Mail superintendent | 2.7 | $28k |
| Painter | 2.7 | $19k |
| Meter reader | 2.7 | $44k |
| Bus driver | 2.7 | $34k |
| Brickmason | 2.7 | $28k |
| Taxi driver | 2.7 | $26k |
| Truck driver | 2.7 | $49k |
| Courier | 2.7 | $26k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are bus drivers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do bus drivers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as bus drivers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are bus driver’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are bus drivers making the best use of their abilities?
Are bus drivers happy with their salary?
Bus drivers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Bus drivers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked bus drivers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
284 bus drivers
11% of bus drivers rated their compensation 5 stars
19% of bus drivers rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of bus drivers rated their compensation 3 stars
27% of bus drivers rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of bus drivers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do bus drivers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, bus drivers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of bus drivers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked bus drivers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
284 bus drivers
8% of bus drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
11% of bus drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of bus drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
28% of bus drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
33% of bus drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as bus drivers?
Bus drivers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of bus drivers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked bus drivers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
299 bus drivers
29% of bus drivers rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of bus drivers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of bus drivers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of bus drivers rated their career fit 2 stars
11% of bus drivers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a bus driver’s work environment?
As a whole, bus drivers 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 bus drivers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
297 bus drivers
16% of bus drivers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of bus drivers rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of bus drivers rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of bus drivers rated their work environment 2 stars
13% of bus drivers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are bus drivers making the best use of their abilities?
Former bus drivers 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 bus driver.
We asked bus drivers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
299 bus drivers
11% of bus drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
6% of bus drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
18% of bus drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
26% of bus drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
38% of bus drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars