Painters 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, painters rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 13% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy painters 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lawn care specialist | 2.8 | $38k |
| Rail transportation worker | 2.8 | $61k |
| Tile and marble setter | 2.8 | $48k |
| Mail superintendent | 2.7 | $80k |
| Sheet metal worker | 2.7 | $53k |
| Painter | 2.7 | $46k |
| Meter reader | 2.7 | $46k |
| Bus driver | 2.7 | $42k |
| Brickmason | 2.7 | $59k |
| Tool and die maker | 2.7 | $57k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are painters happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do painters find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as painters?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are painter’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are painters making the best use of their abilities?
Are painters happy with their salary?
Painters rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most painters having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked painters how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
581 painters
10% of painters rated their compensation 5 stars
27% of painters rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of painters rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of painters rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of painters rated their compensation 1 stars
Do painters find their jobs meaningful?
On average, painters rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of painters struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked painters how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
580 painters
9% of painters rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
10% of painters rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
18% of painters rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
26% of painters rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
36% of painters rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as painters?
Painters rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of painters find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked painters how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
617 painters
21% of painters rated their career fit 5 stars
38% of painters rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of painters rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of painters rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of painters rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a painter’s work environment?
As a whole, painters 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 painters how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
616 painters
15% of painters rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of painters rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of painters rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of painters rated their work environment 2 stars
12% of painters rated their work environment 1 stars
Are painters making the best use of their abilities?
Former painters on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.5/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a painter.
We asked painters how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
620 painters
7% of painters rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
15% of painters rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of painters rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
30% of painters rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
26% of painters rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars