Medical assistants 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, medical assistants rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 50% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy medical assistants 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Paramedic | 3.3 | $46k |
| Internist | 3.3 | $194k |
| Radiation therapist | 3.2 | $84k |
| Community health worker | 3.2 | $28k |
| Medical assistant | 3.2 | $20k |
| Anesthesiologist assistant | 3.2 | $41k |
| Physical therapist assistant | 3.2 | $18k |
| Informatics nurse specialist | 3.2 | $89k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are medical assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do medical assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as medical assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are medical assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are medical assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are medical assistants happy with their salary?
Medical assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Medical assistants tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked medical assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
2387 medical assistants
11% of medical assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of medical assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of medical assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of medical assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of medical assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do medical assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, medical assistants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked medical assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
2397 medical assistants
23% of medical assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
22% of medical assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of medical assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
18% of medical assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
14% of medical assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as medical assistants?
Medical assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of medical assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked medical assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
2579 medical assistants
42% of medical assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of medical assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
16% of medical assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of medical assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of medical assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a medical assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, medical assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of medical assistants enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a medical assistant.
We asked medical assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
2575 medical assistants
28% of medical assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
31% of medical assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of medical assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of medical assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of medical assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are medical assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former medical assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most medical assistants are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked medical assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
2595 medical assistants
23% of medical assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of medical assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of medical assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
19% of medical assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
13% of medical assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars