Sociologists rate their happiness above average.
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, sociologists rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 34% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sociologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Humanitarian | 3.8 | $38k |
| Neuropsychologist | 3.7 | $103k |
| Anthropologist | 3.7 | $62k |
| Archaeologist | 3.6 | $62k |
| Sociologist | 3.4 | $93k |
| Political scientist | 3.4 | $123k |
| Intelligence analyst | 3.2 | $84k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are sociologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do sociologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sociologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are sociologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are sociologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are sociologists happy with their salary?
Sociologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Sociologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked sociologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
308 sociologists
9% of sociologists rated their compensation 5 stars
20% of sociologists rated their compensation 4 stars
32% of sociologists rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of sociologists rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of sociologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do sociologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, sociologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, sociologists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become sociologists.
We asked sociologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
325 sociologists
27% of sociologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of sociologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of sociologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
12% of sociologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
9% of sociologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sociologists?
Sociologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of sociologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked sociologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
355 sociologists
32% of sociologists rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of sociologists rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of sociologists rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of sociologists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of sociologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a sociologist’s work environment?
As a whole, sociologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of sociologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a sociologist.
We asked sociologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
348 sociologists
20% of sociologists rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of sociologists rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of sociologists rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of sociologists rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of sociologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are sociologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former sociologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most sociologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked sociologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
347 sociologists
22% of sociologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
28% of sociologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of sociologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
11% of sociologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
9% of sociologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars