Hosts and hostesses 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, hosts and hostesses rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 4% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy hosts and hostesses 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Receptionist | 2.6 | $26k |
| Butcher | 2.6 | $34k |
| Office clerk | 2.6 | $29k |
| Restaurant cook | 2.5 | $22k |
| Teller | 2.5 | $29k |
| Host and hostess | 2.5 | $22k |
| Food server | 2.4 | $27k |
| Postal service worker | 2.4 | $39k |
| Garbage collector | 2.4 | $38k |
| Vehicle cleaner | 2.4 | $26k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are hosts and hostesses happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do hosts and hostesses find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as hosts and hostesses?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are host and hostess’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are hosts and hostesses making the best use of their abilities?
Are hosts and hostesses happy with their salary?
Hosts and hostesses rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Hosts and hostesses tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked hosts and hostesses how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
2371 hosts and hostesses
6% of hosts and hostesses rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of hosts and hostesses rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of hosts and hostesses rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of hosts and hostesses rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of hosts and hostesses rated their compensation 1 stars
Do hosts and hostesses find their jobs meaningful?
On average, hosts and hostesses rate the meaningfulness of their work a 1.9/5. The majority of hosts and hostesses struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked hosts and hostesses how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
1.9 out of 5 stars
2372 hosts and hostesses
4% of hosts and hostesses rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
6% of hosts and hostesses rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
14% of hosts and hostesses rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of hosts and hostesses rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
48% of hosts and hostesses rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as hosts and hostesses?
Hosts and hostesses rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of hosts and hostesses find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked hosts and hostesses how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
2375 hosts and hostesses
30% of hosts and hostesses rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of hosts and hostesses rated their career fit 4 stars
20% of hosts and hostesses rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of hosts and hostesses rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of hosts and hostesses rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a host and hostess’s work environment?
As a whole, hosts and hostesses 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 hosts and hostesses how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
2369 hosts and hostesses
13% of hosts and hostesses rated their work environment 5 stars
25% of hosts and hostesses rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of hosts and hostesses rated their work environment 3 stars
20% of hosts and hostesses rated their work environment 2 stars
14% of hosts and hostesses rated their work environment 1 stars
Are hosts and hostesses making the best use of their abilities?
Former hosts and hostesses on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.2/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a host and hostess.
We asked hosts and hostesses how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.2 out of 5 stars
2376 hosts and hostesses
9% of hosts and hostesses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
10% of hosts and hostesses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
17% of hosts and hostesses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of hosts and hostesses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
38% of hosts and hostesses rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars