Plumbers are one of the least happy 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, plumbers rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 18% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy plumbers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cement mason | 2.9 | $18k |
| Surveyor | 2.8 | $46k |
| Marine electrician | 2.8 | $73k |
| Highway maintenance worker | 2.8 | $39k |
| Plumber | 2.8 | $24k |
| Pipelayer | 2.8 | $50k |
| Lawn care specialist | 2.8 | $2k |
| Rail transportation worker | 2.8 | $60k |
| Tile and marble setter | 2.8 | $24k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are plumbers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do plumbers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as plumbers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are plumber’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are plumbers making the best use of their abilities?
Are plumbers happy with their salary?
Plumbers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most plumbers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked plumbers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
467 plumbers
14% of plumbers rated their compensation 5 stars
27% of plumbers rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of plumbers rated their compensation 3 stars
18% of plumbers rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of plumbers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do plumbers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, plumbers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of plumbers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked plumbers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
467 plumbers
9% of plumbers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
13% of plumbers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of plumbers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of plumbers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of plumbers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as plumbers?
Plumbers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of plumbers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked plumbers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
498 plumbers
24% of plumbers rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of plumbers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of plumbers rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of plumbers rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of plumbers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a plumber’s work environment?
As a whole, plumbers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked plumbers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
495 plumbers
17% of plumbers rated their work environment 5 stars
27% of plumbers rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of plumbers rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of plumbers rated their work environment 2 stars
11% of plumbers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are plumbers making the best use of their abilities?
Former plumbers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Plumbers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked plumbers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
501 plumbers
14% of plumbers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of plumbers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of plumbers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of plumbers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
19% of plumbers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars