Journalists rate their happiness above average.
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, journalists rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 35% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy journalists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Writer | 4.1 | $70k |
| Television writer | 4.0 | $70k |
| Photojournalist | 4.0 | $36k |
| Blogger | 3.8 | $26k |
| News anchor | 3.7 | $67k |
| Journalist | 3.4 | $37k |
| Editor | 3.4 | $63k |
| News reporter | 3.2 | $27k |
| Proofreader | 3.1 | $44k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are journalists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do journalists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as journalists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are journalist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are journalists making the best use of their abilities?
Are journalists happy with their salary?
Journalists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most journalists do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked journalists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
2652 journalists
8% of journalists rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of journalists rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of journalists rated their compensation 3 stars
30% of journalists rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of journalists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do journalists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, journalists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked journalists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
2702 journalists
22% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
27% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
17% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
9% of journalists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as journalists?
Journalists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of journalists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked journalists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
2990 journalists
26% of journalists rated their career fit 5 stars
40% of journalists rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of journalists rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of journalists rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of journalists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a journalist’s work environment?
As a whole, journalists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of journalists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a journalist.
We asked journalists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
2973 journalists
23% of journalists rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of journalists rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of journalists rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of journalists rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of journalists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are journalists making the best use of their abilities?
Former journalists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most journalists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a journalist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked journalists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
2982 journalists
23% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
31% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
16% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
5% of journalists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars