Job Satisfaction Statistics 2026: How US Workers Rate Their Jobs

The most cited job satisfaction statistics come from Pew Research Center, whose survey of 5,273 employed US adults, conducted October 7 to 13, 2024, found that 50% are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall. The Conference Board, using a different scale, reported on June 2, 2026 that overall satisfaction reached 68.9%, the highest in its survey's history. Both agree on the weak spots: pay, promotion and lower-income workers. This page collects the latest job satisfaction survey results, with the source, sample and period beside each number.

Overall job satisfaction in the US

Three well-known surveys measure how satisfied US workers are, and each asks a different question, so their numbers differ.

• 50% of workers were extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, 38% somewhat satisfied and 12% not too or not at all satisfied, per Pew Research Center's December 10, 2024 report (survey fielded October 7 to 13, 2024).
• Self-employed workers were more satisfied: 60% highly satisfied, versus 49% of those who work for someone else.
• In Pew's earlier survey, fielded February 6 to 12, 2023, 51% of workers who are not self-employed were extremely or very satisfied (Pew, March 30, 2023). In that survey, 50% said their job was enjoyable all or most of the time, 47% fulfilling, 29% stressful and 19% overwhelming.
• 68.9% of workers were satisfied with their jobs in 2026, up from 68.3% in 2025, according to The Conference Board's June 2, 2026 release. Satisfaction with the 27 individual job elements it asks about averaged about 59%.
• 18% of US employees were extremely satisfied with their company as a place to work as of August 2026, per Gallup's engagement indicator.

Why the spread? Pew and Gallup count only the top boxes ("extremely or very" and "extremely"), while The Conference Board counts workers who are satisfied at all. When you quote employee satisfaction statistics, give each figure with its source and wording rather than comparing them directly. For how many workers are actively engaged, a related but different measure, see our employee engagement statistics.

What this means for employers: Most of your staff probably like their job well enough, but only about half like it a lot. The other half is where turnover risk sits, and asking a short, direct satisfaction question once or twice a year tells you which half each person is in.

Satisfaction with pay, benefits, managers and coworkers

Pew asked workers who are not self-employed about 11 parts of their job. People are happiest with the people they work with and least happy with money and advancement.

• 29% were not too or not at all satisfied with their pay, and 38% felt that way about promotion opportunities.
• 40% were dissatisfied with how much flexibility they have to work remotely. Our remote work statistics show how few jobs allow it.
• Workers feel respected day to day: 86% say coworkers and 82% say supervisors treat them with respect all or most of the time.

Satisfaction fell on most items Pew asked in both years:

Source: Pew Research Center, 2023 and 2024 surveys of US workers. Pew says seven of these nine items fell by 3 to 7 percentage points.

What this means for employers: The two lowest-rated items, pay and promotion, are also the ones workers can compare across employers. A small business that cannot match larger pay scales can still be clear about how raises and promotions are earned, which costs nothing. Benefits matter too; see our employee benefits statistics and guide to paid time off.

Job satisfaction by age, income and race

In both Pew and Conference Board data, satisfaction rises with age and income.

• Age. The Conference Board's June 11, 2025 release, based on 1,700 employed US workers, found 57.4% of workers under 25 satisfied, compared with 72.4% of workers 55 and older.
• Income. In The Conference Board's 2026 survey, satisfaction ranged from 45.3% for households earning under $25,000 to 76% for households earning $150,000 or more. It called income the strongest demographic factor.
• Income gaps on benefits and pay. Pew found 30% of lower-income workers highly satisfied with their benefits, versus 48% of middle-income and 56% of upper-income workers. For pay it was 21%, 28% and 44%.
• Race and ethnicity. 55% of White workers were extremely or very satisfied with their job, compared with 44% of Hispanic, 43% of Black and 42% of Asian workers (Pew, October 2024).
• Gender. The Conference Board found men more satisfied than women on 26 of its 27 job elements in 2026. Work-life balance was the exception. The largest gaps were wages (7.2 points), health plans (7.0), pension and retirement benefits (6.3) and promotion policy (6.2).

What this means for employers: If your team is young and paid hourly, expect satisfaction below the national average before you change anything. Younger workers rate growth and feedback highly, so regular reviews with a clear next step do more for them than for a 60-year-old who has settled into a role.

Job satisfaction by industry and type of work

No major public survey reports job satisfaction by detailed industry each year. The closest current data is Pew's look at blue-collar workers, defined as those who do manual or physical labor in manufacturing, mining and construction; agriculture; retail and trade; hospitality or service; or transportation. They make up about 27% of the US workforce (Pew, March 31, 2025, from the October 2024 survey, including 1,004 blue-collar workers).

• Among blue-collar women, 40% were not too or not at all satisfied with their pay, compared with 30% of blue-collar men.
• Pew also found blue-collar workers less satisfied with health insurance and other benefits and with schedule flexibility, without publishing the exact shares.
• On respect for their line of work, 56% of health care and social assistance workers said most Americans have a great deal or fair amount of respect for people who do their job. About four in ten workers in hospitality, service, arts, entertainment and recreation, and in retail or trade, said most people have little or no respect for it (Pew, October 2024).
• By employer type, government workers were the most likely to report a great deal of job security (47%), followed by nonprofit workers (39%), private company workers (29%) and the self-employed (28%).

What this means for employers: Blue-collar jobs, which include much of the work in restaurants, stores, warehouses and job sites, start about 10 points behind on overall satisfaction. Predictable schedules, accurate pay and a manager who treats people with respect are the levers within reach. Our pages for restaurants and retail cover how Workzenly handles schedules and pay for hourly teams.

Worker satisfaction trend, 2010 to 2026

The long-run trend in job satisfaction statistics depends on which survey you follow.

• The Conference Board fields its survey each January using data from its Consumer Confidence Survey. In 2025, satisfaction rose on 26 of 27 job elements; quality of equipment was the only decline.
• Its principal researcher, Allan Schweyer, said the 2026 high "may reflect that workers are grateful to be employed amid widespread uncertainty."
• Pew's measure moved the other way between February 2023 and October 2024: overall high satisfaction among workers who are not self-employed went from 51% to 49%, and seven of nine job aspects fell 3 to 7 points.
• 52% of workers said in October 2024 it would be difficult to get the kind of job they want if they looked, up from 37% in 2022 (Pew).

The two series measure different things: The Conference Board asks about 27 job elements and reports a share satisfied, while Pew reports only the most satisfied. A weaker job market can raise contentment with having a job while lowering enthusiasm for it, which fits both results.

What this means for employers: High national satisfaction during a slow hiring market can hide people who are staying because they feel stuck. When hiring picks up, those workers leave first.

Why workers are unhappy with pay

Pay is the clearest pain point in job satisfaction statistics from both Pew and The Conference Board. Among workers who are not self-employed and not too or not at all satisfied with their pay, Pew asked for the reasons in October 2024:

• 80% said a major reason is that their pay has not kept up with increases in the cost of living.
• 71% said it is too low for the quality of work they do, and 70% too low for the amount of work.
• 54% said they don't earn enough to pay their bills, including 69% of lower-income, 51% of middle-income and 30% of upper-income workers.
• 28% said they are paid less than coworkers who do similar work. Women were more likely than men to say this (32% vs. 24%) and to say they cannot pay their bills (61% vs. 47%).

What this means for employers: Most pay complaints are about keeping pace and fairness, not about being the top payer. Review rates at least once a year against local wages (our minimum wage by state and average hourly wage guides help), explain how pay is set, and get every paycheck right. A shift differential for nights and weekends is one targeted option.

Satisfaction, job searching and quits

• 64% of workers who are not too or not at all satisfied with their job said they were likely to look for a new job in the next six months, compared with 31% of somewhat satisfied and 11% of extremely or very satisfied workers (Pew, October 2024).
• Overall, 25% of workers said they were at least somewhat likely to look for a new job in the next six months, and 63% said they were unlikely to.
• 37% of workers ages 18 to 29 and 37% of lower-income workers said they were likely to look.
• 50% of workers see their current job as a career, 15% as a stepping stone to one and 35% as just a job to get them by.
• Employers recorded 3.4 million quits in September 2026, a quits rate of 2.1%, per the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released November 3, 2026.
• Gallup's American Job Quality Study found only 41% of US workers hold "quality jobs" in 2026, based on more than 17,000 workers, for the second year in a row at about two in five.

For quit and separation rates by industry, see our employee turnover statistics. For the stress side of dissatisfaction, see burnout statistics.

What this means for employers: A dissatisfied worker is about six times as likely as a highly satisfied one to plan a job search in Pew's data (Workzenly calculation: 64% vs. 11%). Finding out who is unhappy early is cheaper than replacing them.

What the data means for employers

1. Hold regular check-ins. Only 44% of workers are highly satisfied with the feedback they receive. Use a performance review template and ask people to prepare with self-performance review examples.
2. Show a path up. Promotion is the lowest-rated job aspect at 26%. Write down what the next role or raise requires.
3. Make pay predictable and correct. Most pay complaints are about cost of living and fairness, and errors make both worse.
4. Give hourly staff the same information as office staff. Schedules, pay stubs and time-off balances in an employee app remove guesswork for people who are rarely at a desk.
5. Measure your own team. National averages are context. A two-question survey each quarter tells you more.

About this data

Every one of these job satisfaction statistics comes from a source page or report opened on November 13, 2026. Pew Research Center publishes worker surveys every year or two; its latest job satisfaction data is from October 2024. The Conference Board releases its job satisfaction survey each spring, with fieldwork in January; its full report is for members, so we use its public press releases, which do not state the 2026 sample size. Gallup's indicator pages update as new data arrive, and BLS JOLTS is published monthly. We review this page when new releases come out. Journalists and bloggers are welcome to cite this page with a link, and we recommend linking the original source as well.

More workforce statistics: Employee engagement statistics · Employee retention statistics · Burnout statistics · Average hourly wage.

Sources

1. Pew Research Center, "Most Americans Feel Good About Their Job Security but Not Their Pay," December 10, 2024 (survey conducted October 7 to 13, 2024). pewresearch.org (PDF)
2. Pew Research Center, "Blue-collar workers are less satisfied at work, less attached to their jobs than other U.S. workers," March 31, 2025. pewresearch.org
3. Pew Research Center, "How Americans View Their Jobs," March 30, 2023 (survey conducted February 6 to 12, 2023). pewresearch.org
4. The Conference Board, "Survey: Job Satisfaction Hits Record High, Despite Growing Divides Across Gender, Income, and AI Use," June 2, 2026. conference-board.org
5. The Conference Board, job satisfaction 2025 press release, June 11, 2025. conference-board.org
6. The Conference Board, Job Satisfaction expert briefing (survey method and report history). conference-board.org
7. Gallup, Global Indicator: Employee Engagement (US data as of August 2026). gallup.com
8. Gallup, American Job Quality Study (2026). gallup.com
9. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, September 2026, released November 3, 2026. bls.gov

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