Authors 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, authors rate their career happiness 4.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 7% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy authors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Author | 4.1 | $45k |
| Television writer | 4.0 | $62k |
| Blogger | 3.8 | $26k |
| Journalist | 3.4 | $37k |
| Editor | 3.4 | $54k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are authors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do authors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as authors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are author’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are authors making the best use of their abilities?
Are authors happy with their salary?
Authors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most authors do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked authors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
2157 authors
14% of authors rated their compensation 5 stars
11% of authors rated their compensation 4 stars
21% of authors rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of authors rated their compensation 2 stars
32% of authors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do authors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, authors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.2/5. Unlike many careers, authors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become authors.
We asked authors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
2275 authors
54% of authors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of authors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
12% of authors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
5% of authors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
4% of authors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as authors?
Authors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of authors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked authors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
2484 authors
51% of authors rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of authors rated their career fit 4 stars
12% of authors rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of authors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of authors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an author’s work environment?
As a whole, authors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of authors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an author.
We asked authors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
2462 authors
48% of authors rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of authors rated their work environment 4 stars
15% of authors rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of authors rated their work environment 2 stars
2% of authors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are authors making the best use of their abilities?
Former authors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.1/5. Most authors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an author, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked authors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
2476 authors
47% of authors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
29% of authors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
16% of authors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
5% of authors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of authors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars