Nurses 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, nurses rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 13% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy nurses 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
Pharmacy technician
2.8
$37k
Medical administrative assistant
2.8
$37k
Clinical nurse specialist
2.8
$78k
Medical billing and coding technician
2.7
$40k
Registered nurse
2.7
$78k
Nurse
2.7
$44k
Pharmacist
2.7
$129k
Orderly
2.6
$26k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

Are nurses happy with their salary?

Nurses rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most nurses having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked nurses how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

2925 nurses

5 Star
14%

14% of nurses rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of nurses rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of nurses rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of nurses rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of nurses rated their compensation 1 stars

Do nurses find their jobs meaningful?

On average, nurses rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked nurses how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

2927 nurses

5 Star
21%

21% of nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
14%

14% of nurses rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as nurses?

Nurses rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of nurses find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked nurses how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

3101 nurses

5 Star
31%

31% of nurses rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of nurses rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of nurses rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of nurses rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of nurses rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a nurse’s work environment?

As a whole, nurses rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked nurses how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

3101 nurses

5 Star
16%

16% of nurses rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of nurses rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of nurses rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of nurses rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of nurses rated their work environment 1 stars

Are nurses making the best use of their abilities?

Former nurses on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most nurses are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked nurses how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

3113 nurses

5 Star
18%

18% of nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of nurses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars