Nurse practitioners are about average in terms of happiness.
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, nurse practitioners rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 42% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy nurse practitioners 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medical assistant | 3.2 | $37k |
| Anesthesiologist assistant | 3.2 | $122k |
| Physical therapist assistant | 3.2 | $61k |
| Informatics nurse specialist | 3.2 | $89k |
| Family practitioner | 3.1 | $201k |
| Nurse practitioner | 3.1 | $121k |
| MRI technologist | 3.1 | $77k |
| Chiropractor | 3.1 | $75k |
| Prosthodontist | 3.1 | $101k |
| Dental hygienist | 3.1 | $75k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are nurse practitioners happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do nurse practitioners find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as nurse practitioners?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are nurse practitioner’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are nurse practitioners making the best use of their abilities?
Are nurse practitioners happy with their salary?
Nurse practitioners rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.4/5. The majority of nurse practitioners are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked nurse practitioners how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
95 nurse practitioners
21% of nurse practitioners rated their compensation 5 stars
35% of nurse practitioners rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of nurse practitioners rated their compensation 3 stars
12% of nurse practitioners rated their compensation 2 stars
11% of nurse practitioners rated their compensation 1 stars
Do nurse practitioners find their jobs meaningful?
On average, nurse practitioners rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.7/5. Unlike many careers, nurse practitioners have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become nurse practitioners.
We asked nurse practitioners how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
98 nurse practitioners
33% of nurse practitioners rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
26% of nurse practitioners rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of nurse practitioners rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
5% of nurse practitioners rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
10% of nurse practitioners rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as nurse practitioners?
Nurse practitioners rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of nurse practitioners find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked nurse practitioners how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
100 nurse practitioners
36% of nurse practitioners rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of nurse practitioners rated their career fit 4 stars
17% of nurse practitioners rated their career fit 3 stars
5% of nurse practitioners rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of nurse practitioners rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a nurse practitioner’s work environment?
As a whole, nurse practitioners rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of nurse practitioners enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a nurse practitioner.
We asked nurse practitioners how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
104 nurse practitioners
28% of nurse practitioners rated their work environment 5 stars
25% of nurse practitioners rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of nurse practitioners rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of nurse practitioners rated their work environment 2 stars
11% of nurse practitioners rated their work environment 1 stars
Are nurse practitioners making the best use of their abilities?
Former nurse practitioners on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.6/5. Most nurse practitioners surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a nurse practitioner, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked nurse practitioners how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
101 nurse practitioners
32% of nurse practitioners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of nurse practitioners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of nurse practitioners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
10% of nurse practitioners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of nurse practitioners rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars