Dancers 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, dancers rate their career happiness 4.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 8% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy dancers 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 |
| Music artist | 4.3 | $63k |
| Actor | 4.2 | $49k |
| Performer | 4.2 | $37k |
| Choreographer | 4.2 | $43k |
| Dancer | 4.0 | $39k |
| Model | 3.8 | $32k |
| Casting director | 3.6 | $79k |
| Conductor | 3.5 | $49k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are dancers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do dancers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as dancers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are dancer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are dancers making the best use of their abilities?
Are dancers happy with their salary?
Dancers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Dancers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked dancers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1394 dancers
19% of dancers rated their compensation 5 stars
14% of dancers rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of dancers rated their compensation 3 stars
18% of dancers rated their compensation 2 stars
26% of dancers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do dancers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, dancers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, dancers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become dancers.
We asked dancers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
1440 dancers
43% of dancers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
24% of dancers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
17% of dancers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of dancers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of dancers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as dancers?
Dancers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of dancers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked dancers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
1541 dancers
52% of dancers rated their career fit 5 stars
27% of dancers rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of dancers rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of dancers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of dancers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a dancer’s work environment?
As a whole, dancers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.0/5. A solid majority of dancers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a dancer.
We asked dancers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
1547 dancers
41% of dancers rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of dancers rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of dancers rated their work environment 3 stars
8% of dancers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of dancers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are dancers making the best use of their abilities?
Former dancers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most dancers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a dancer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked dancers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1543 dancers
39% of dancers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of dancers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
20% of dancers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
10% of dancers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of dancers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars