Paralegals 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, paralegals 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 paralegals 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Court reporter | 3.0 | $57k |
| Judicial law clerk | 3.0 | $51k |
| Probation officer | 2.9 | $60k |
| Customs inspector | 2.9 | $84k |
| Legal secretary | 2.7 | $48k |
| Paralegal | 2.7 | $56k |
| Compliance manager | 2.7 | $125k |
| Lawyer | 2.6 | $128k |
| Underwriter | 2.5 | $76k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are paralegals happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do paralegals find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as paralegals?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are paralegal’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are paralegals making the best use of their abilities?
Are paralegals happy with their salary?
Paralegals rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Paralegals tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked paralegals how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
2024 paralegals
10% of paralegals rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of paralegals rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of paralegals rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of paralegals rated their compensation 2 stars
17% of paralegals rated their compensation 1 stars
Do paralegals find their jobs meaningful?
On average, paralegals rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of paralegals struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked paralegals how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
2032 paralegals
9% of paralegals rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
14% of paralegals rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of paralegals rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of paralegals rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
28% of paralegals rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as paralegals?
Paralegals rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of paralegals find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked paralegals how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
2189 paralegals
23% of paralegals rated their career fit 5 stars
33% of paralegals rated their career fit 4 stars
27% of paralegals rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of paralegals rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of paralegals rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a paralegal’s work environment?
As a whole, paralegals 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 paralegals how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
2182 paralegals
15% of paralegals rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of paralegals rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of paralegals rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of paralegals rated their work environment 2 stars
10% of paralegals rated their work environment 1 stars
Are paralegals making the best use of their abilities?
Former paralegals on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Paralegals tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked paralegals how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
2179 paralegals
12% of paralegals rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
20% of paralegals rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of paralegals rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
25% of paralegals rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
18% of paralegals rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars