Elementary school teachers are below average when it comes to 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, elementary school teachers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 25% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy elementary school teachers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Special education teacher | 3.1 | $54k |
| Teacher | 3.0 | $38k |
| Kindergarten teacher | 3.0 | $26k |
| High school teacher | 3.0 | $47k |
| School psychologist | 3.0 | $80k |
| Elementary school teacher | 2.9 | $40k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are elementary school teachers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do elementary school teachers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as elementary school teachers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are elementary school teacher’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are elementary school teachers making the best use of their abilities?
Are elementary school teachers happy with their salary?
Elementary school teachers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most elementary school teachers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked elementary school teachers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
1050 elementary school teachers
8% of elementary school teachers rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of elementary school teachers rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of elementary school teachers rated their compensation 3 stars
27% of elementary school teachers rated their compensation 2 stars
28% of elementary school teachers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do elementary school teachers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, elementary school teachers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, elementary school teachers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become elementary school teachers.
We asked elementary school teachers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
1054 elementary school teachers
26% of elementary school teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
30% of elementary school teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of elementary school teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
14% of elementary school teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
8% of elementary school teachers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as elementary school teachers?
Elementary school teachers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of elementary school teachers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked elementary school teachers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1164 elementary school teachers
28% of elementary school teachers rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of elementary school teachers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of elementary school teachers rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of elementary school teachers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of elementary school teachers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an elementary school teacher’s work environment?
As a whole, elementary school teachers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked elementary school teachers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
1161 elementary school teachers
18% of elementary school teachers rated their work environment 5 stars
28% of elementary school teachers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of elementary school teachers rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of elementary school teachers rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of elementary school teachers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are elementary school teachers making the best use of their abilities?
Former elementary school teachers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most elementary school teachers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked elementary school teachers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
1165 elementary school teachers
17% of elementary school teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of elementary school teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of elementary school teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
20% of elementary school teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of elementary school teachers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars