Physician assistants are below average when it comes to 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, physician assistants rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 35% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy physician assistants 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chiropractor | 3.1 | $75k |
| Prosthodontist | 3.1 | $101k |
| Dental hygienist | 3.1 | $75k |
| Dentist | 3.0 | $160k |
| Physician assistant | 3.0 | $122k |
| Immunologist | 3.0 | $201k |
| Surgical technologist | 3.0 | $49k |
| Dental assistant | 3.0 | $39k |
| Medical transcriptionist | 3.0 | $30k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are physician assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do physician assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as physician assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are physician assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are physician assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are physician assistants happy with their salary?
Physician assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.7/5. The majority of physician assistants are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked physician assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
103 physician assistants
25% of physician assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
37% of physician assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
21% of physician assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
11% of physician assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
6% of physician assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do physician assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, physician assistants 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 physician assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
103 physician assistants
17% of physician assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
28% of physician assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of physician assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
22% of physician assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
12% of physician assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as physician assistants?
Physician assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of physician assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked physician assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
111 physician assistants
23% of physician assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
41% of physician assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of physician assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
14% of physician assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of physician assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a physician assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, physician assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of physician assistants enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a physician assistant.
We asked physician assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
111 physician assistants
20% of physician assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of physician assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of physician assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of physician assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of physician assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are physician assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former physician assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most physician assistants are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked physician assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
111 physician assistants
17% of physician assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of physician assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of physician assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
15% of physician assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
8% of physician assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars