Dental hygienists 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, dental hygienists rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 39% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy dental hygienists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Family practitioner | 3.1 | $201k |
| Nurse practitioner | 3.1 | $121k |
| MRI technologist | 3.1 | $77k |
| Chiropractor | 3.1 | $75k |
| Prosthodontist | 3.1 | $101k |
| Dental hygienist | 3.1 | $75k |
| Dentist | 3.0 | $160k |
| Physician assistant | 3.0 | $122k |
| Occupational therapist assistant | 3.0 | $62k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are dental hygienists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do dental hygienists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as dental hygienists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are dental hygienist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are dental hygienists making the best use of their abilities?
Are dental hygienists happy with their salary?
Dental hygienists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.6/5. The majority of dental hygienists are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked dental hygienists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
306 dental hygienists
22% of dental hygienists rated their compensation 5 stars
35% of dental hygienists rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of dental hygienists rated their compensation 3 stars
8% of dental hygienists rated their compensation 2 stars
4% of dental hygienists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do dental hygienists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, dental hygienists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked dental hygienists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
308 dental hygienists
19% of dental hygienists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
24% of dental hygienists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of dental hygienists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of dental hygienists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
15% of dental hygienists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as dental hygienists?
Dental hygienists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of dental hygienists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked dental hygienists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
329 dental hygienists
47% of dental hygienists rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of dental hygienists rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of dental hygienists rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of dental hygienists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of dental hygienists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a dental hygienist’s work environment?
As a whole, dental hygienists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of dental hygienists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a dental hygienist.
We asked dental hygienists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
330 dental hygienists
29% of dental hygienists rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of dental hygienists rated their work environment 4 stars
21% of dental hygienists rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of dental hygienists rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of dental hygienists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are dental hygienists making the best use of their abilities?
Former dental hygienists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most dental hygienists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a dental hygienist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked dental hygienists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
332 dental hygienists
29% of dental hygienists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of dental hygienists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of dental hygienists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
17% of dental hygienists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
11% of dental hygienists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars