Sports referees are about average in terms of 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, sports referees rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 49% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sports referees 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Personal trainer | 3.5 | $35k |
| Physical education teacher | 3.5 | $63k |
| Fitness and wellness coordinator | 3.5 | $74k |
| Athletic trainer | 3.3 | $49k |
| Exercise physiologist | 3.3 | $49k |
| Sports referee | 3.2 | $33k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are sports referees happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do sports referees find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sports referees?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are sports referee’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are sports referees making the best use of their abilities?
Are sports referees happy with their salary?
Sports referees rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.6/5. The majority of sports referees are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked sports referees how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
434 sports referees
26% of sports referees rated their compensation 5 stars
34% of sports referees rated their compensation 4 stars
21% of sports referees rated their compensation 3 stars
10% of sports referees rated their compensation 2 stars
8% of sports referees rated their compensation 1 stars
Do sports referees find their jobs meaningful?
On average, sports referees rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of sports referees struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked sports referees how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
430 sports referees
8% of sports referees rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
14% of sports referees rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of sports referees rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
28% of sports referees rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
23% of sports referees rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sports referees?
Sports referees rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of sports referees find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked sports referees how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
464 sports referees
33% of sports referees rated their career fit 5 stars
38% of sports referees rated their career fit 4 stars
18% of sports referees rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of sports referees rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of sports referees rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a sports referee’s work environment?
As a whole, sports referees rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of sports referees enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a sports referee.
We asked sports referees how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
464 sports referees
28% of sports referees rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of sports referees rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of sports referees rated their work environment 3 stars
10% of sports referees rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of sports referees rated their work environment 1 stars
Are sports referees making the best use of their abilities?
Former sports referees on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most sports referees are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked sports referees how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
463 sports referees
17% of sports referees rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of sports referees rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
22% of sports referees rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
25% of sports referees rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
13% of sports referees rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars