Musicians are one of the happiest 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, musicians rate their career happiness 4.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 8% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy musicians 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Performer | 4.2 | $37k |
| Composer | 4.2 | $49k |
| DJ | 4.1 | $27k |
| Musician | 4.1 | $63k |
| Audio engineer | 3.9 | $60k |
| Recording engineer | 3.9 | $34k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are musicians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do musicians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as musicians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are musician’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are musicians making the best use of their abilities?
Are musicians happy with their salary?
Musicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Most musicians do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked musicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
3019 musicians
14% of musicians rated their compensation 5 stars
12% of musicians rated their compensation 4 stars
21% of musicians rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of musicians rated their compensation 2 stars
29% of musicians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do musicians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, musicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, musicians have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become musicians.
We asked musicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3089 musicians
46% of musicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
27% of musicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
16% of musicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
7% of musicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
4% of musicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as musicians?
Musicians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of musicians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked musicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
3397 musicians
48% of musicians rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of musicians rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of musicians rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of musicians rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of musicians rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a musician’s work environment?
As a whole, musicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of musicians enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a musician.
We asked musicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
3375 musicians
38% of musicians rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of musicians rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of musicians rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of musicians rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of musicians rated their work environment 1 stars
Are musicians making the best use of their abilities?
Former musicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.0/5. Most musicians surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a musician, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked musicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3378 musicians
41% of musicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
28% of musicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of musicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
9% of musicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of musicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars