Psychiatrists 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, psychiatrists rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 17% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy psychiatrists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Neurologist | 4.0 | $201k |
| Psychiatrist | 3.8 | N/A |
| Neuropsychologist | 3.7 | $103k |
| Counseling psychologist | 3.6 | $80k |
| Psychologist | 3.5 | $56k |
| Naturopathic physician | 3.5 | $74k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are psychiatrists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do psychiatrists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as psychiatrists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are psychiatrist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are psychiatrists making the best use of their abilities?
Are psychiatrists happy with their salary?
Psychiatrists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.9/5. The majority of psychiatrists are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked psychiatrists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
49 psychiatrists
37% of psychiatrists rated their compensation 5 stars
31% of psychiatrists rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of psychiatrists rated their compensation 3 stars
6% of psychiatrists rated their compensation 2 stars
4% of psychiatrists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do psychiatrists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, psychiatrists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, psychiatrists have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become psychiatrists.
We asked psychiatrists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
54 psychiatrists
43% of psychiatrists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
20% of psychiatrists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of psychiatrists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of psychiatrists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of psychiatrists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as psychiatrists?
Psychiatrists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of psychiatrists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked psychiatrists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
60 psychiatrists
38% of psychiatrists rated their career fit 5 stars
23% of psychiatrists rated their career fit 4 stars
28% of psychiatrists rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of psychiatrists rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of psychiatrists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a psychiatrist’s work environment?
As a whole, psychiatrists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of psychiatrists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a psychiatrist.
We asked psychiatrists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
59 psychiatrists
27% of psychiatrists rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of psychiatrists rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of psychiatrists rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of psychiatrists rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of psychiatrists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are psychiatrists making the best use of their abilities?
Former psychiatrists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most psychiatrists surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a psychiatrist, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked psychiatrists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
60 psychiatrists
32% of psychiatrists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
32% of psychiatrists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of psychiatrists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
15% of psychiatrists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of psychiatrists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars