UX designers rate their happiness above average.
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, UX designers rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 30% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy UX designers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Solution architect | 3.7 | $100k |
| Computer hardware engineer | 3.5 | $95k |
| UX designer | 3.5 | $106k |
| Multimedia animator | 3.5 | $33k |
| Industrial designer | 3.5 | $62k |
| App developer | 3.5 | $71k |
| Full stack developer | 3.4 | $70k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are UX designers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do UX designers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as UX designers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are UX designer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are UX designers making the best use of their abilities?
Are UX designers happy with their salary?
UX designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of UX designers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked UX designers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
929 UX designers
21% of UX designers rated their compensation 5 stars
34% of UX designers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of UX designers rated their compensation 3 stars
12% of UX designers rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of UX designers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do UX designers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, UX designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked UX designers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
943 UX designers
16% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
21% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
12% of UX designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as UX designers?
UX designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of UX designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked UX designers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
952 UX designers
35% of UX designers rated their career fit 5 stars
41% of UX designers rated their career fit 4 stars
17% of UX designers rated their career fit 3 stars
5% of UX designers rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of UX designers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a UX designer’s work environment?
As a whole, UX designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of UX designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a UX designer.
We asked UX designers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
941 UX designers
26% of UX designers rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of UX designers rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of UX designers rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of UX designers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of UX designers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are UX designers making the best use of their abilities?
Former UX designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most UX designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a UX designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked UX designers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
948 UX designers
18% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
33% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
29% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
14% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
7% of UX designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars