Fashion designers 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, fashion designers rate their career happiness 3.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 24% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy fashion designers 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
Model
3.8
$32k
Art director
3.8
$101k
Seamstress
3.7
$26k
Exhibit designer
3.7
$55k
Makeup artist
3.7
$135k
Fashion designer
3.6
$77k
Cake designer
3.6
$22k
Esthetician
3.3
$37k
Nail technician
3.1
$29k
Hairdresser
3.1
$30k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are fashion designers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do fashion designers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as fashion designers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are fashion designer’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are fashion designers making the best use of their abilities?

Are fashion designers happy with their salary?

Fashion designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Fashion designers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked fashion designers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

1159 fashion designers

5 Star
15%

15% of fashion designers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
16%

16% of fashion designers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of fashion designers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of fashion designers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
20%

20% of fashion designers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do fashion designers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, fashion designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.3/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked fashion designers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

1206 fashion designers

5 Star
29%

29% of fashion designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of fashion designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of fashion designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of fashion designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of fashion designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as fashion designers?

Fashion designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of fashion designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked fashion designers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

1320 fashion designers

5 Star
38%

38% of fashion designers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of fashion designers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
18%

18% of fashion designers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
6%

6% of fashion designers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of fashion designers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a fashion designer’s work environment?

As a whole, fashion designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of fashion designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a fashion designer.

We asked fashion designers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

1313 fashion designers

5 Star
29%

29% of fashion designers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of fashion designers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of fashion designers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of fashion designers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of fashion designers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are fashion designers making the best use of their abilities?

Former fashion designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most fashion designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a fashion designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked fashion designers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

1327 fashion designers

5 Star
28%

28% of fashion designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of fashion designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of fashion designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
13%

13% of fashion designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of fashion designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars