Lawyers 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, lawyers rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 7% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy lawyers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arbitrator | 3.5 | $49k |
| Hearing officer | 3.5 | $103k |
| Judicial law clerk | 3.0 | $51k |
| Legal secretary | 2.7 | $48k |
| Paralegal | 2.7 | $56k |
| Lawyer | 2.6 | $128k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are lawyers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do lawyers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as lawyers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are lawyer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are lawyers making the best use of their abilities?
Are lawyers happy with their salary?
Lawyers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most lawyers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked lawyers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
3345 lawyers
18% of lawyers rated their compensation 5 stars
26% of lawyers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of lawyers rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of lawyers rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of lawyers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do lawyers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, lawyers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of lawyers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked lawyers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
3381 lawyers
10% of lawyers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
16% of lawyers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of lawyers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of lawyers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
26% of lawyers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as lawyers?
Lawyers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of lawyers don’t see personality fit as a hinderence in their career.
We asked lawyers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
3745 lawyers
19% of lawyers rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of lawyers rated their career fit 4 stars
27% of lawyers rated their career fit 3 stars
17% of lawyers rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of lawyers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a lawyer’s work environment?
As a whole, lawyers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.0/5. Some lawyers are happy with their work environment, but it does not seem to be a meaningful contributer to career satisfaction for most.
We asked lawyers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3718 lawyers
12% of lawyers rated their work environment 5 stars
24% of lawyers rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of lawyers rated their work environment 3 stars
24% of lawyers rated their work environment 2 stars
12% of lawyers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are lawyers making the best use of their abilities?
Former lawyers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Most lawyers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked lawyers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3729 lawyers
14% of lawyers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of lawyers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of lawyers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of lawyers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of lawyers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars