Pharmacists are one of the least happy 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, pharmacists rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 9% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy pharmacists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical nurse specialist | 2.8 | $78k |
| Medical billing and coding technician | 2.7 | $40k |
| Registered nurse | 2.7 | $78k |
| Nurse | 2.7 | $44k |
| Nuclear medicine technologist | 2.7 | $79k |
| Pharmacist | 2.7 | $129k |
| Histotechnologist | 2.6 | $61k |
| Orderly | 2.6 | $26k |
| Cytogenetic technologist | 2.6 | $61k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are pharmacists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do pharmacists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as pharmacists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are pharmacist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are pharmacists making the best use of their abilities?
Are pharmacists happy with their salary?
Pharmacists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most pharmacists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked pharmacists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
855 pharmacists
20% of pharmacists rated their compensation 5 stars
29% of pharmacists rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of pharmacists rated their compensation 3 stars
16% of pharmacists rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of pharmacists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do pharmacists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, pharmacists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most pharmacists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked pharmacists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
873 pharmacists
12% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
17% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
22% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
26% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as pharmacists?
Pharmacists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of pharmacists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked pharmacists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
945 pharmacists
23% of pharmacists rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of pharmacists rated their career fit 4 stars
27% of pharmacists rated their career fit 3 stars
14% of pharmacists rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of pharmacists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a pharmacist’s work environment?
As a whole, pharmacists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.0/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked pharmacists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
944 pharmacists
12% of pharmacists rated their work environment 5 stars
23% of pharmacists rated their work environment 4 stars
31% of pharmacists rated their work environment 3 stars
21% of pharmacists rated their work environment 2 stars
13% of pharmacists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are pharmacists making the best use of their abilities?
Former pharmacists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Pharmacists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked pharmacists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
947 pharmacists
11% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
17% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
29% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
19% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars