Counseling psychologists 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, counseling psychologists rate their career happiness 3.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 22% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy counseling 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial organizational psychologist | 3.9 | $143k |
| Career counselor | 3.8 | $48k |
| Psychiatrist | 3.8 | N/A |
| Counseling psychologist | 3.6 | $80k |
| Counselor | 3.5 | $20k |
| Psychologist | 3.5 | $56k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $38k |
| Clinical psychologist | 3.3 | $80k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are counseling psychologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do counseling psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as counseling psychologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are counseling psychologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are counseling psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are counseling psychologists happy with their salary?
Counseling psychologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most counseling psychologists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked counseling psychologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
66 counseling psychologists
23% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 2 stars
15% of counseling psychologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do counseling psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, counseling psychologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, counseling psychologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become counseling psychologists.
We asked counseling psychologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
70 counseling psychologists
39% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
30% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
1% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
7% of counseling psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as counseling psychologists?
Counseling psychologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of counseling psychologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked counseling psychologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
80 counseling psychologists
53% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 4 stars
11% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of counseling psychologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a counseling psychologist’s work environment?
As a whole, counseling psychologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of counseling psychologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a counseling psychologist.
We asked counseling psychologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
75 counseling psychologists
39% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of counseling psychologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are counseling psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former counseling psychologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most counseling psychologists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a counseling psychologist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked counseling psychologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
78 counseling psychologists
32% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
29% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
10% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
4% of counseling psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars