Drug and alcohol counselors 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, drug and alcohol counselors rate their career happiness 3.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 43% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy drug and alcohol counselors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Psychologist | 3.5 | $56k |
| School counselor | 3.5 | $38k |
| Recreation worker | 3.4 | $13k |
| 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 |
| Rehabilitation counselor | 3.0 | $41k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are drug and alcohol counselors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do drug and alcohol counselors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as drug and alcohol counselors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are drug and alcohol counselor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are drug and alcohol counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Are drug and alcohol counselors happy with their salary?
Drug and alcohol counselors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Drug and alcohol counselors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked drug and alcohol counselors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
318 drug and alcohol counselors
14% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their compensation 5 stars
12% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their compensation 3 stars
27% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do drug and alcohol counselors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, drug and alcohol counselors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.8/5. Unlike many careers, drug and alcohol counselors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become drug and alcohol counselors.
We asked drug and alcohol counselors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
323 drug and alcohol counselors
36% of drug and alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
31% of drug and alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
17% of drug and alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
10% of drug and alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of drug and alcohol counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as drug and alcohol counselors?
Drug and alcohol counselors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of drug and alcohol counselors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked drug and alcohol counselors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
350 drug and alcohol counselors
39% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a drug and alcohol counselor’s work environment?
As a whole, drug and alcohol counselors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of drug and alcohol counselors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a drug and alcohol counselor.
We asked drug and alcohol counselors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
347 drug and alcohol counselors
28% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are drug and alcohol counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Former drug and alcohol counselors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most drug and alcohol counselors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a drug and alcohol counselor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked drug and alcohol counselors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
351 drug and alcohol counselors
27% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
7% of drug and alcohol counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars