Tax preparers 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, tax preparers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 9% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy tax preparers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance manager | 2.7 | $125k |
| Financial advisor | 2.7 | $94k |
| Cost estimator | 2.7 | $65k |
| Revenue agent | 2.7 | $57k |
| Investment banker | 2.7 | $73k |
| Tax preparer | 2.7 | $46k |
| Credit counselor | 2.6 | $48k |
| Credit analyst | 2.6 | $77k |
| Customs broker | 2.6 | $75k |
| Accountant | 2.6 | $77k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are tax preparers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do tax preparers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as tax preparers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are tax preparer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are tax preparers making the best use of their abilities?
Are tax preparers happy with their salary?
Tax preparers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most tax preparers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked tax preparers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
521 tax preparers
14% of tax preparers rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of tax preparers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of tax preparers rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of tax preparers rated their compensation 2 stars
15% of tax preparers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do tax preparers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, tax preparers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of tax preparers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked tax preparers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
522 tax preparers
8% of tax preparers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
11% of tax preparers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of tax preparers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of tax preparers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
34% of tax preparers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as tax preparers?
Tax preparers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of tax preparers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked tax preparers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
548 tax preparers
21% of tax preparers rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of tax preparers rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of tax preparers rated their career fit 3 stars
16% of tax preparers rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of tax preparers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a tax preparer’s work environment?
As a whole, tax preparers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked tax preparers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
549 tax preparers
17% of tax preparers rated their work environment 5 stars
26% of tax preparers rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of tax preparers rated their work environment 3 stars
21% of tax preparers rated their work environment 2 stars
10% of tax preparers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are tax preparers making the best use of their abilities?
Former tax preparers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Tax preparers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked tax preparers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
552 tax preparers
13% of tax preparers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
19% of tax preparers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of tax preparers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of tax preparers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
15% of tax preparers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars