Occupational therapists 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, occupational therapists rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 27% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy occupational therapists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dental assistant | 3.0 | $39k |
| Diagnostic medical sonographer | 3.0 | $78k |
| Optometrist | 3.0 | $124k |
| Hearing aid specialist | 2.9 | $60k |
| Occupational health specialist | 2.9 | $73k |
| Occupational therapist | 2.9 | $86k |
| Registered dietitian | 2.9 | $62k |
| Respiratory therapist | 2.9 | $62k |
| Psychiatric aide | 2.9 | $29k |
| Optician | 2.9 | $38k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are occupational therapists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do occupational therapists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as occupational therapists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are occupational therapist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are occupational therapists making the best use of their abilities?
Are occupational therapists happy with their salary?
Occupational therapists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most occupational therapists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked occupational therapists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
258 occupational therapists
15% of occupational therapists rated their compensation 5 stars
32% of occupational therapists rated their compensation 4 stars
32% of occupational therapists rated their compensation 3 stars
14% of occupational therapists rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of occupational therapists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do occupational therapists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, occupational therapists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked occupational therapists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
260 occupational therapists
16% of occupational therapists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
35% of occupational therapists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of occupational therapists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
15% of occupational therapists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
8% of occupational therapists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as occupational therapists?
Occupational therapists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of occupational therapists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked occupational therapists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
277 occupational therapists
31% of occupational therapists rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of occupational therapists rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of occupational therapists rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of occupational therapists rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of occupational therapists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an occupational therapist’s work environment?
As a whole, occupational therapists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of occupational therapists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an occupational therapist.
We asked occupational therapists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
276 occupational therapists
15% of occupational therapists rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of occupational therapists rated their work environment 4 stars
30% of occupational therapists rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of occupational therapists rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of occupational therapists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are occupational therapists making the best use of their abilities?
Former occupational therapists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most occupational therapists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked occupational therapists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
274 occupational therapists
18% of occupational therapists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of occupational therapists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of occupational therapists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
20% of occupational therapists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
11% of occupational therapists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars