Clergy members 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, clergy members rate their career happiness 3.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 26% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy clergy members 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Life coach | 4.1 | $47k |
| Career counselor | 3.8 | $48k |
| American sign language interpreter | 3.6 | $41k |
| Clergy member | 3.6 | $36k |
| Counselor | 3.5 | $20k |
| Arbitrator | 3.5 | $49k |
| Piano tuner | 3.5 | $41k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $38k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are clergy members happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do clergy members find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as clergy members?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are clergy member’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are clergy members making the best use of their abilities?
Are clergy members happy with their salary?
Clergy members rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Clergy members tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked clergy members how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
980 clergy members
14% of clergy members rated their compensation 5 stars
19% of clergy members rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of clergy members rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of clergy members rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of clergy members rated their compensation 1 stars
Do clergy members find their jobs meaningful?
On average, clergy members rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.2/5. Unlike many careers, clergy members have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become clergy members.
We asked clergy members how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
992 clergy members
50% of clergy members rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
31% of clergy members rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
10% of clergy members rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
4% of clergy members rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
4% of clergy members rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as clergy members?
Clergy members rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of clergy members find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked clergy members how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
1063 clergy members
39% of clergy members rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of clergy members rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of clergy members rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of clergy members rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of clergy members rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a clergy member’s work environment?
As a whole, clergy members rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of clergy members enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a clergy member.
We asked clergy members how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1059 clergy members
30% of clergy members rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of clergy members rated their work environment 4 stars
21% of clergy members rated their work environment 3 stars
10% of clergy members rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of clergy members rated their work environment 1 stars
Are clergy members making the best use of their abilities?
Former clergy members on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.6/5. Most clergy members surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a clergy member, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked clergy members how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
1066 clergy members
28% of clergy members rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of clergy members rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
22% of clergy members rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of clergy members rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of clergy members rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars