Clinical psychologists are about average in terms of 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, clinical psychologists rate their career happiness 3.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 41% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy clinical psychologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Health educator | 3.5 | $40k |
| Psychologist | 3.5 | $56k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $38k |
| Recreational therapist | 3.4 | $46k |
| Clinical psychologist | 3.3 | $80k |
| Drug and alcohol counselor | 3.3 | $32k |
| Marriage and family therapist | 3.2 | $59k |
| Community health worker | 3.2 | $28k |
| Mental health counselor | 3.1 | $48k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are clinical psychologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do clinical psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as clinical psychologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are clinical psychologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are clinical psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are clinical psychologists happy with their salary?
Clinical psychologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most clinical psychologists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked clinical psychologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
92 clinical psychologists
17% of clinical psychologists rated their compensation 5 stars
25% of clinical psychologists rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of clinical psychologists rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of clinical psychologists rated their compensation 2 stars
10% of clinical psychologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do clinical psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, clinical psychologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, clinical psychologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become clinical psychologists.
We asked clinical psychologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
93 clinical psychologists
43% of clinical psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of clinical psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of clinical psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of clinical psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
4% of clinical psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as clinical psychologists?
Clinical psychologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of clinical psychologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked clinical psychologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
102 clinical psychologists
31% of clinical psychologists rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of clinical psychologists rated their career fit 4 stars
16% of clinical psychologists rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of clinical psychologists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of clinical psychologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a clinical psychologist’s work environment?
As a whole, clinical psychologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of clinical psychologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a clinical psychologist.
We asked clinical psychologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
103 clinical psychologists
21% of clinical psychologists rated their work environment 5 stars
43% of clinical psychologists rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of clinical psychologists rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of clinical psychologists rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of clinical psychologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are clinical psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former clinical psychologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.6/5. Most clinical psychologists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a clinical psychologist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked clinical psychologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
102 clinical psychologists
29% of clinical psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
31% of clinical psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of clinical psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
15% of clinical psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of clinical psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars