School psychologists 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, school psychologists rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 34% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy school psychologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mental health counselor | 3.1 | $48k |
| Teacher | 3.0 | $38k |
| Kindergarten teacher | 3.0 | $26k |
| Rehabilitation counselor | 3.0 | $41k |
| High school teacher | 3.0 | $47k |
| School psychologist | 3.0 | $80k |
| Occupational therapist assistant | 3.0 | $52k |
| Occupational therapist | 2.9 | $66k |
| Registered dietitian | 2.9 | $53k |
| 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 school psychologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do school psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as school psychologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are school psychologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are school psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are school psychologists happy with their salary?
School psychologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most school psychologists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked school psychologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
116 school psychologists
21% of school psychologists rated their compensation 5 stars
28% of school psychologists rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of school psychologists rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of school psychologists rated their compensation 2 stars
10% of school psychologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do school psychologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, school psychologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Unlike many careers, school psychologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become school psychologists.
We asked school psychologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
118 school psychologists
26% of school psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
26% of school psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of school psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
13% of school psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
11% of school psychologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as school psychologists?
School psychologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of school psychologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked school psychologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
124 school psychologists
32% of school psychologists rated their career fit 5 stars
27% of school psychologists rated their career fit 4 stars
27% of school psychologists rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of school psychologists rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of school psychologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a school psychologist’s work environment?
As a whole, school psychologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of school psychologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a school psychologist.
We asked school psychologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
124 school psychologists
24% of school psychologists rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of school psychologists rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of school psychologists rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of school psychologists rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of school psychologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are school psychologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former school psychologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most school psychologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked school psychologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
124 school psychologists
22% of school psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of school psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of school psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of school psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
8% of school psychologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars