Choir directors 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, choir directors rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 17% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy choir directors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Music promoter | 3.8 | $31k |
| Piano accompanist | 3.8 | $47k |
| Live sound engineer | 3.8 | $31k |
| Luthier | 3.7 | $31k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are choir directors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do choir directors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as choir directors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are choir director’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are choir directors making the best use of their abilities?
Are choir directors happy with their salary?
Choir directors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Choir directors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked choir directors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
60 choir directors
8% of choir directors rated their compensation 5 stars
10% of choir directors rated their compensation 4 stars
37% of choir directors rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of choir directors rated their compensation 2 stars
22% of choir directors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do choir directors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, choir directors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, choir directors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become choir directors.
We asked choir directors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
62 choir directors
37% of choir directors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
37% of choir directors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of choir directors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
3% of choir directors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
3% of choir directors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as choir directors?
Choir directors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of choir directors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked choir directors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
62 choir directors
44% of choir directors rated their career fit 5 stars
44% of choir directors rated their career fit 4 stars
6% of choir directors rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of choir directors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of choir directors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a choir director’s work environment?
As a whole, choir directors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of choir directors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a choir director.
We asked choir directors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
62 choir directors
34% of choir directors rated their work environment 5 stars
42% of choir directors rated their work environment 4 stars
11% of choir directors rated their work environment 3 stars
8% of choir directors rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of choir directors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are choir directors making the best use of their abilities?
Former choir directors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most choir directors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a choir director, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked choir directors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
61 choir directors
28% of choir directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
43% of choir directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of choir directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
5% of choir directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
5% of choir directors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars