Videographers 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, videographers rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 18% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy videographers 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
Recording engineer
3.9
$34k
Calligrapher
3.8
$62k
Art director
3.8
$101k
Set designer
3.8
$28k
Videographer
3.8
$35k
Art therapist
3.7
$48k
Exhibit designer
3.7
$55k
Executive film producer
3.6
$60k
Camera operator
3.6
$49k

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

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

Are videographers happy with their salary?

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

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

3.0 out of 5 stars

592 videographers

5 Star
11%

11% of videographers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of videographers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of videographers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of videographers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of videographers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do videographers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, videographers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, videographers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become videographers.

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

3.5 out of 5 stars

600 videographers

5 Star
26%

26% of videographers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of videographers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of videographers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of videographers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of videographers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Videographers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of videographers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.1 out of 5 stars

598 videographers

5 Star
40%

40% of videographers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of videographers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
16%

16% of videographers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
3%

3% of videographers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of videographers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a videographer’s work environment?

As a whole, videographers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of videographers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a videographer.

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

3.9 out of 5 stars

603 videographers

5 Star
33%

33% of videographers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
37%

37% of videographers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of videographers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of videographers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of videographers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are videographers making the best use of their abilities?

Former videographers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.7/5. Most videographers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a videographer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

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

3.7 out of 5 stars

602 videographers

5 Star
29%

29% of videographers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of videographers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of videographers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of videographers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of videographers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars