Coaches 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, coaches rate their career happiness 3.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 18% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy coaches 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sports broadcaster | 4.1 | $40k |
| Sports scout | 4.0 | $24k |
| Coach | 3.7 | $6k |
| Sports writer | 3.6 | $19k |
| Fitness trainer | 3.6 | $17k |
| Personal trainer | 3.5 | $30k |
| Physical education teacher | 3.5 | $26k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are coaches happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do coaches find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as coaches?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are coach’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are coaches making the best use of their abilities?
Are coaches happy with their salary?
Coaches rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Coaches tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked coaches how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
3810 coaches
12% of coaches rated their compensation 5 stars
19% of coaches rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of coaches rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of coaches rated their compensation 2 stars
19% of coaches rated their compensation 1 stars
Do coaches find their jobs meaningful?
On average, coaches rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, coaches have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become coaches.
We asked coaches how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
3839 coaches
27% of coaches rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
33% of coaches rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of coaches rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
12% of coaches rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of coaches rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as coaches?
Coaches rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of coaches find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked coaches how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
4127 coaches
45% of coaches rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of coaches rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of coaches rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of coaches rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of coaches rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a coach’s work environment?
As a whole, coaches rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of coaches enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a coach.
We asked coaches how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4120 coaches
36% of coaches rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of coaches rated their work environment 4 stars
18% of coaches rated their work environment 3 stars
7% of coaches rated their work environment 2 stars
2% of coaches rated their work environment 1 stars
Are coaches making the best use of their abilities?
Former coaches on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.6/5. Most coaches surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a coach, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked coaches how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
4136 coaches
27% of coaches rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
29% of coaches rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of coaches rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
14% of coaches rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of coaches rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars