Taxi drivers are one of the least happy 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, taxi drivers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 11% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy taxi drivers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mail superintendent | 2.7 | $80k |
| Painter | 2.7 | $46k |
| Meter reader | 2.7 | $46k |
| Bus driver | 2.7 | $42k |
| Brickmason | 2.7 | $59k |
| Taxi driver | 2.7 | $26k |
| Truck driver | 2.7 | $48k |
| Courier | 2.7 | $33k |
| Cargo and freight agent | 2.7 | $47k |
| Delivery service driver | 2.6 | $38k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are taxi drivers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do taxi drivers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as taxi drivers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are taxi driver’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are taxi drivers making the best use of their abilities?
Are taxi drivers happy with their salary?
Taxi drivers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Taxi drivers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked taxi drivers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
294 taxi drivers
9% of taxi drivers rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of taxi drivers rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of taxi drivers rated their compensation 3 stars
26% of taxi drivers rated their compensation 2 stars
22% of taxi drivers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do taxi drivers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, taxi drivers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.2/5. The majority of taxi drivers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked taxi drivers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.2 out of 5 stars
292 taxi drivers
7% of taxi drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
7% of taxi drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of taxi drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of taxi drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
38% of taxi drivers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as taxi drivers?
Taxi drivers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of taxi drivers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked taxi drivers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
314 taxi drivers
28% of taxi drivers rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of taxi drivers rated their career fit 4 stars
27% of taxi drivers rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of taxi drivers rated their career fit 2 stars
9% of taxi drivers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a taxi driver’s work environment?
As a whole, taxi drivers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked taxi drivers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
313 taxi drivers
22% of taxi drivers rated their work environment 5 stars
25% of taxi drivers rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of taxi drivers rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of taxi drivers rated their work environment 2 stars
15% of taxi drivers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are taxi drivers making the best use of their abilities?
Former taxi drivers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.3/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a taxi driver.
We asked taxi drivers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
313 taxi drivers
13% of taxi drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
7% of taxi drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
22% of taxi drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
20% of taxi drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
39% of taxi drivers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars