Chemists are below average when it comes to happiness.
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, chemists rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 28% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy chemists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular biologist | 3.2 | $61k |
| Materials scientist | 3.2 | $91k |
| Pathologist | 3.1 | $201k |
| Microbiologist | 3.1 | $63k |
| Chemical technician | 2.9 | $44k |
| Chemist | 2.9 | $47k |
| Chemical engineer | 2.9 | $91k |
| Medical laboratory technologist | 2.8 | $65k |
| Neurodiagnostic technologist | 2.8 | $63k |
| Histotechnologist | 2.6 | $61k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are chemists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do chemists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as chemists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are chemist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are chemists making the best use of their abilities?
Are chemists happy with their salary?
Chemists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Chemists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked chemists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
832 chemists
13% of chemists rated their compensation 5 stars
23% of chemists rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of chemists rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of chemists rated their compensation 2 stars
17% of chemists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do chemists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, chemists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most chemists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked chemists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
850 chemists
12% of chemists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
16% of chemists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of chemists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
26% of chemists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
21% of chemists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as chemists?
Chemists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of chemists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked chemists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
943 chemists
24% of chemists rated their career fit 5 stars
33% of chemists rated their career fit 4 stars
26% of chemists rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of chemists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of chemists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a chemist’s work environment?
As a whole, chemists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of chemists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a chemist.
We asked chemists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
939 chemists
19% of chemists rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of chemists rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of chemists rated their work environment 3 stars
17% of chemists rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of chemists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are chemists making the best use of their abilities?
Former chemists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Most chemists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked chemists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
939 chemists
15% of chemists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of chemists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of chemists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of chemists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of chemists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars