Food critics 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, food critics 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 food critics 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Motivational speaker | 4.3 | $55k |
| Sculptor | 4.1 | $30k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are food critics happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do food critics find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as food critics?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are food critic’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are food critics making the best use of their abilities?
Are food critics happy with their salary?
Food critics rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Food critics tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked food critics how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
54 food critics
11% of food critics rated their compensation 5 stars
15% of food critics rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of food critics rated their compensation 3 stars
26% of food critics rated their compensation 2 stars
22% of food critics rated their compensation 1 stars
Do food critics find their jobs meaningful?
On average, food critics rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.7/5. Unlike many careers, food critics have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become food critics.
We asked food critics how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
54 food critics
31% of food critics rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
22% of food critics rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
31% of food critics rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
11% of food critics rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
4% of food critics rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as food critics?
Food critics rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of food critics find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked food critics how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
54 food critics
46% of food critics rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of food critics rated their career fit 4 stars
11% of food critics rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of food critics rated their career fit 2 stars
How enjoyable is a food critic’s work environment?
As a whole, food critics rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.3/5. A solid majority of food critics enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a food critic.
We asked food critics how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
53 food critics
45% of food critics rated their work environment 5 stars
40% of food critics rated their work environment 4 stars
13% of food critics rated their work environment 3 stars
2% of food critics rated their work environment 2 stars
Are food critics making the best use of their abilities?
Former food critics on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.9/5. Most food critics surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a food critic, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked food critics how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
53 food critics
38% of food critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
28% of food critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of food critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
9% of food critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of food critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars