Music 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, music critics rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 16% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy music 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Recording engineer | 3.9 | $34k |
| Music promoter | 3.8 | $31k |
| Piano accompanist | 3.8 | $47k |
| Live sound engineer | 3.8 | $31k |
| Luthier | 3.7 | $31k |
| News anchor | 3.7 | $67k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are music critics happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do music critics find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as music critics?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are music critic’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are music critics making the best use of their abilities?
Are music critics happy with their salary?
Music critics rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.2/5. Most music critics do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked music critics how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.2 out of 5 stars
78 music critics
13% of music critics rated their compensation 5 stars
10% of music critics rated their compensation 4 stars
12% of music critics rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of music critics rated their compensation 2 stars
46% of music critics rated their compensation 1 stars
Do music critics find their jobs meaningful?
On average, music critics rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.7/5. Unlike many careers, music critics have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become music critics.
We asked music critics how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
81 music critics
30% of music critics rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
32% of music critics rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of music critics rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
12% of music critics rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of music critics rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as music critics?
Music critics rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of music critics find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked music critics how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
83 music critics
48% of music critics rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of music critics rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of music critics rated their career fit 3 stars
2% of music critics rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of music critics rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a music critic’s work environment?
As a whole, music critics rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of music critics enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a music critic.
We asked music critics how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
83 music critics
46% of music critics rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of music critics rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of music critics rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of music critics rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of music critics rated their work environment 1 stars
Are music critics making the best use of their abilities?
Former music critics on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most music critics are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked music critics how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
81 music critics
30% of music critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
19% of music critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of music critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
21% of music critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
1% of music critics rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars