Community health workers 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, community health workers rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 48% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy community health workers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse educator | 3.4 | $77k |
| Recreational therapist | 3.4 | $48k |
| Drug and alcohol counselor | 3.3 | $32k |
| Phlebotomist | 3.3 | $37k |
| Radiation therapist | 3.2 | $83k |
| Community health worker | 3.2 | $47k |
| Medical assistant | 3.2 | $37k |
| Childcare program administrator | 3.2 | $47k |
| Childcare worker | 3.2 | $27k |
| Anesthesiologist assistant | 3.2 | $122k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are community health workers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do community health workers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as community health workers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are community health worker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are community health workers making the best use of their abilities?
Are community health workers happy with their salary?
Community health workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Community health workers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked community health workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
203 community health workers
7% of community health workers rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of community health workers rated their compensation 4 stars
33% of community health workers rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of community health workers rated their compensation 2 stars
17% of community health workers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do community health workers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, community health workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, community health workers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become community health workers.
We asked community health workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
208 community health workers
25% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
33% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
11% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
8% of community health workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as community health workers?
Community health workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of community health workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked community health workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
207 community health workers
32% of community health workers rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of community health workers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of community health workers rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of community health workers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of community health workers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a community health worker’s work environment?
As a whole, community health workers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of community health workers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a community health worker.
We asked community health workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
207 community health workers
24% of community health workers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of community health workers rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of community health workers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of community health workers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of community health workers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are community health workers making the best use of their abilities?
Former community health workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most community health workers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked community health workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
209 community health workers
21% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
11% of community health workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars