Actors 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, actors rate their career happiness 4.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 3% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy actors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Singer | 4.3 | $63k |
| Actor | 4.2 | $49k |
| Performer | 4.2 | $37k |
| Comedian | 4.2 | $31k |
| Choreographer | 4.2 | $43k |
| Dancer | 4.0 | $39k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are actors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do actors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as actors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are actor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are actors making the best use of their abilities?
Are actors happy with their salary?
Actors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Actors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked actors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
2265 actors
20% of actors rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of actors rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of actors rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of actors rated their compensation 2 stars
24% of actors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do actors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, actors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, actors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become actors.
We asked actors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
2331 actors
46% of actors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
23% of actors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
17% of actors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of actors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of actors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as actors?
Actors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of actors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked actors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
2535 actors
52% of actors rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of actors rated their career fit 4 stars
12% of actors rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of actors rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of actors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an actor’s work environment?
As a whole, actors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of actors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an actor.
We asked actors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
2516 actors
43% of actors rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of actors rated their work environment 4 stars
16% of actors rated their work environment 3 stars
7% of actors rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of actors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are actors making the best use of their abilities?
Former actors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.9/5. Most actors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an actor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked actors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
2518 actors
41% of actors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of actors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of actors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
9% of actors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
4% of actors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars