Tattoo artists 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, tattoo artists rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy tattoo artists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Craft artist | 4.0 | $5k |
| Potter | 4.0 | $28k |
| Cartoonist | 4.0 | $30k |
| Illustrator | 3.9 | $15k |
| Calligrapher | 3.8 | $75k |
| Tattoo artist | 3.8 | $39k |
| Set designer | 3.8 | $28k |
| Art therapist | 3.7 | $48k |
| Multimedia animator | 3.5 | $33k |
| Costume attendant | 3.4 | $47k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are tattoo artists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do tattoo artists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as tattoo artists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are tattoo artist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are tattoo artists making the best use of their abilities?
Are tattoo artists happy with their salary?
Tattoo artists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most tattoo artists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked tattoo artists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
101 tattoo artists
28% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 5 stars
16% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of tattoo artists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do tattoo artists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, tattoo artists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, tattoo artists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become tattoo artists.
We asked tattoo artists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
103 tattoo artists
29% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
23% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
12% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
10% of tattoo artists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as tattoo artists?
Tattoo artists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of tattoo artists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked tattoo artists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
106 tattoo artists
54% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 5 stars
27% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 3 stars
1% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of tattoo artists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a tattoo artist’s work environment?
As a whole, tattoo artists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of tattoo artists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a tattoo artist.
We asked tattoo artists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
108 tattoo artists
42% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 5 stars
27% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 4 stars
19% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 3 stars
8% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of tattoo artists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are tattoo artists making the best use of their abilities?
Former tattoo artists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most tattoo artists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a tattoo artist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked tattoo artists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
108 tattoo artists
41% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
15% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
15% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of tattoo artists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars