Sports medicine physicians 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, sports medicine physicians rate their career happiness 4.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 1% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sports medicine physicians 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 |
| Gynecologist | 4.2 | N/A |
| Athlete | 4.2 | $3k |
| Ophthalmologist | 4.1 | $201k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are sports medicine physicians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do sports medicine physicians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sports medicine physicians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are sports medicine physician’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are sports medicine physicians making the best use of their abilities?
Are sports medicine physicians happy with their salary?
Sports medicine physicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of sports medicine physicians are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked sports medicine physicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
18 sports medicine physicians
28% of sports medicine physicians rated their compensation 5 stars
28% of sports medicine physicians rated their compensation 4 stars
17% of sports medicine physicians rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of sports medicine physicians rated their compensation 2 stars
6% of sports medicine physicians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do sports medicine physicians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, sports medicine physicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.8/5. Unlike many careers, sports medicine physicians have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become sports medicine physicians.
We asked sports medicine physicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
18 sports medicine physicians
50% of sports medicine physicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
11% of sports medicine physicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of sports medicine physicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
6% of sports medicine physicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
11% of sports medicine physicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sports medicine physicians?
Sports medicine physicians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.6/5. The majority of sports medicine physicians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked sports medicine physicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.6 out of 5 stars
23 sports medicine physicians
70% of sports medicine physicians rated their career fit 5 stars
22% of sports medicine physicians rated their career fit 4 stars
9% of sports medicine physicians rated their career fit 3 stars
How enjoyable is a sports medicine physician’s work environment?
As a whole, sports medicine physicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.2/5. A solid majority of sports medicine physicians enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a sports medicine physician.
We asked sports medicine physicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
23 sports medicine physicians
43% of sports medicine physicians rated their work environment 5 stars
39% of sports medicine physicians rated their work environment 4 stars
13% of sports medicine physicians rated their work environment 3 stars
4% of sports medicine physicians rated their work environment 2 stars
Are sports medicine physicians making the best use of their abilities?
Former sports medicine physicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.2/5. Most sports medicine physicians surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a sports medicine physician, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked sports medicine physicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
22 sports medicine physicians
55% of sports medicine physicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of sports medicine physicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
14% of sports medicine physicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
5% of sports medicine physicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
5% of sports medicine physicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars