Pharmacists 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, pharmacists 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 pharmacists 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
Clinical nurse specialist
2.8
$78k
Medical billing and coding technician
2.7
$40k
Registered nurse
2.7
$78k
Nurse
2.7
$44k
Nuclear medicine technologist
2.7
$79k
Pharmacist
2.7
$129k
Histotechnologist
2.6
$61k
Orderly
2.6
$26k
Cytogenetic technologist
2.6
$61k

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

  • Salary: Are pharmacists happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do pharmacists find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as pharmacists?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are pharmacist’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are pharmacists making the best use of their abilities?

Are pharmacists happy with their salary?

Pharmacists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most pharmacists having generally positive views of their salary.

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

3.3 out of 5 stars

855 pharmacists

5 Star
20%

20% of pharmacists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of pharmacists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of pharmacists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of pharmacists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of pharmacists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do pharmacists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, pharmacists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most pharmacists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.

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

2.7 out of 5 stars

873 pharmacists

5 Star
12%

12% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

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

2 Star
22%

22% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
26%

26% of pharmacists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Pharmacists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of pharmacists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

945 pharmacists

5 Star
23%

23% of pharmacists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of pharmacists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of pharmacists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of pharmacists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of pharmacists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a pharmacist’s work environment?

As a whole, pharmacists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.0/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

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

3.0 out of 5 stars

944 pharmacists

5 Star
12%

12% of pharmacists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of pharmacists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
31%

31% of pharmacists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of pharmacists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of pharmacists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are pharmacists making the best use of their abilities?

Former pharmacists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Pharmacists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

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

2.7 out of 5 stars

947 pharmacists

5 Star
11%

11% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
29%

29% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
19%

19% of pharmacists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars