Physical therapist 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, physical therapist assistants rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 45% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy physical therapist 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 |
| 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 |
| Nurse practitioner | 3.1 | $121k |
| MRI technologist | 3.1 | $84k |
| Chiropractor | 3.1 | $56k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are physical therapist assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do physical therapist assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as physical therapist assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are physical therapist assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are physical therapist assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are physical therapist assistants happy with their salary?
Physical therapist assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Physical therapist assistants tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked physical therapist assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
359 physical therapist assistants
8% of physical therapist assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of physical therapist assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
33% of physical therapist assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of physical therapist assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of physical therapist assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do physical therapist assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, physical therapist assistants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.3/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked physical therapist assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
363 physical therapist assistants
17% of physical therapist assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
30% of physical therapist assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of physical therapist assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
17% of physical therapist assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
10% of physical therapist assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as physical therapist assistants?
Physical therapist assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of physical therapist assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked physical therapist assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
388 physical therapist assistants
35% of physical therapist assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of physical therapist assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of physical therapist assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of physical therapist assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of physical therapist assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a physical therapist assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, physical therapist assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of physical therapist assistants enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a physical therapist assistant.
We asked physical therapist assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
386 physical therapist assistants
20% of physical therapist assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of physical therapist assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of physical therapist assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of physical therapist assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of physical therapist assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are physical therapist assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former physical therapist assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Most physical therapist assistants are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked physical therapist assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
389 physical therapist assistants
13% of physical therapist assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of physical therapist assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
32% of physical therapist assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of physical therapist assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of physical therapist assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars