Commercial artists 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, commercial artists rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 44% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy commercial artists 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
Exhibit designer
3.7
$54k
Multimedia animator
3.5
$33k
Art teacher
3.4
$45k
Jeweler
3.4
$21k
Merchandiser
2.9
$26k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are commercial artists happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do commercial artists find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as commercial artists?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are commercial artist’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are commercial artists making the best use of their abilities?

Are commercial artists happy with their salary?

Commercial artists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Commercial artists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked commercial artists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.6 out of 5 stars

18 commercial artists

5 Star
6%

6% of commercial artists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
11%

11% of commercial artists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
39%

39% of commercial artists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of commercial artists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of commercial artists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do commercial artists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, commercial artists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.0/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked commercial artists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

19 commercial artists

5 Star
16%

16% of commercial artists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of commercial artists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of commercial artists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of commercial artists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
26%

26% of commercial artists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as commercial artists?

Commercial artists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of commercial artists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked commercial artists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

19 commercial artists

5 Star
32%

32% of commercial artists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of commercial artists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
16%

16% of commercial artists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of commercial artists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of commercial artists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a commercial artist’s work environment?

As a whole, commercial artists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of commercial artists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a commercial artist.

We asked commercial artists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

18 commercial artists

5 Star
6%

6% of commercial artists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
56%

56% of commercial artists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of commercial artists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of commercial artists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of commercial artists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are commercial artists making the best use of their abilities?

Former commercial artists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Commercial artists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked commercial artists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

18 commercial artists

5 Star
6%

6% of commercial artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of commercial artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
11%

11% of commercial artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of commercial artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
22%

22% of commercial artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars