Ophthalmologists are one of the happiest careers in the United States.
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, ophthalmologists rate their career happiness 4.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 5% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy ophthalmologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sports medicine physician | 4.3 | $201k |
| Surgeon | 4.3 | N/A |
| Gynecologist | 4.2 | N/A |
| Ophthalmologist | 4.1 | $201k |
| Neurosurgeon | 4.1 | N/A |
| Dermatologist | 4.1 | $201k |
| Pediatrician | 4.0 | $171k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are ophthalmologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do ophthalmologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as ophthalmologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are ophthalmologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are ophthalmologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are ophthalmologists happy with their salary?
Ophthalmologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. Ophthalmologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked ophthalmologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
12 ophthalmologists
33% of ophthalmologists rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of ophthalmologists rated their compensation 4 stars
33% of ophthalmologists rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of ophthalmologists rated their compensation 2 stars
Do ophthalmologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, ophthalmologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.8/5. Unlike many careers, ophthalmologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become ophthalmologists.
We asked ophthalmologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
12 ophthalmologists
42% of ophthalmologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
33% of ophthalmologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
8% of ophthalmologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
17% of ophthalmologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as ophthalmologists?
Ophthalmologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of ophthalmologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked ophthalmologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
16 ophthalmologists
44% of ophthalmologists rated their career fit 5 stars
25% of ophthalmologists rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of ophthalmologists rated their career fit 3 stars
13% of ophthalmologists rated their career fit 2 stars
How enjoyable is an ophthalmologist’s work environment?
As a whole, ophthalmologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of ophthalmologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an ophthalmologist.
We asked ophthalmologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
16 ophthalmologists
31% of ophthalmologists rated their work environment 5 stars
31% of ophthalmologists rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of ophthalmologists rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of ophthalmologists rated their work environment 2 stars
Are ophthalmologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former ophthalmologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most ophthalmologists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an ophthalmologist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked ophthalmologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
15 ophthalmologists
47% of ophthalmologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
20% of ophthalmologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
13% of ophthalmologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
7% of ophthalmologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
13% of ophthalmologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars