Aerospace engineers 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, aerospace engineers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 34% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy aerospace engineers 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
Mechatronics engineer
3.5
$101k
Computer hardware engineer
3.5
$128k
Physicist
3.5
$152k
Biochemical engineer
3.5
$101k
Aerospace engineer
3.4
$122k
Wind energy engineer
3.4
$101k
Naval architect
3.4
$93k
Explosives worker
3.4
$50k
Systems engineer
3.4
$90k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are aerospace engineers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do aerospace engineers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as aerospace engineers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are aerospace engineer’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are aerospace engineers making the best use of their abilities?

Are aerospace engineers happy with their salary?

Aerospace engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.6/5. The majority of aerospace engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.

We asked aerospace engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

289 aerospace engineers

5 Star
26%

26% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do aerospace engineers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, aerospace engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked aerospace engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

291 aerospace engineers

5 Star
24%

24% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
21%

21% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
16%

16% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as aerospace engineers?

Aerospace engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of aerospace engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked aerospace engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

337 aerospace engineers

5 Star
33%

33% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
4%

4% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an aerospace engineer’s work environment?

As a whole, aerospace engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of aerospace engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an aerospace engineer.

We asked aerospace engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

329 aerospace engineers

5 Star
30%

30% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are aerospace engineers making the best use of their abilities?

Former aerospace engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most aerospace engineers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an aerospace engineer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked aerospace engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

334 aerospace engineers

5 Star
26%

26% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars