Are You Living Your Childhood Dream Job? Survey Reveals 59 Million American Workers Loathe Their Current Career

What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a question we often ask our children, delighted by their ambitious answers of ‘ballerina’, ‘firefighter’, or ‘astronaut’. Perhaps they’re influenced by the roles in their lives that inspire them, perhaps one day dreaming of becoming a doctor or teacher.

As we grow up we still often dream of a job that provides us with this passion, fulfillment, and success. However, the realities of life, bills, and the job market mean that simply pursuing a career that makes us happy isn’t always possible.

Are many Americans working their dream job? Or are we a nation stuck in a rut, loathing our day-to-day responsibilities, and far removed from those lofty childhood dreams?

We surveyed 3,000 employees from various job markets across the U.S. to determine how many people are actually living out their dream careers.

Unfortunately, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, an overwhelming 86% of respondents are not working in those jobs they once dreamed of as children. That means only 14% are living out their dream career.

Our survey also asked respondents to detail the most significant obstacles they faced when pursuing a dream career:

The majority of employees said they abandoned their childhood career goals at the average age of 25. Additionally, 35% of people said financial limitations presented a major obstacle when it came to pursuing their dream career, as well as a lack of opportunities (34%) and family commitments (22%).

1 in 3 (38%) of these respondents said they hated the job they chose. Here’s the breakdown of people who said they “loathe” their current job in each state:

Despite feeling unhappy in their current career path and burdened by the challenges of daily life, two-thirds of respondents (66%) said they would still consider switching jobs to chase those childhood dreams.

When it comes to childhood dream jobs, the survey results were diverse:

“Although you may be working in a field that bears no resemblance to where you thought you’d end up, congratulate yourself. You were flexible and practical. Paying the bills and becoming self-sufficient is important,” said CardRates Finance Expert Erica Sandberg.

“But if you’re among those in the survey who reported hating their current job, its time to consider your future,” Sandberg continued. “Make a plan for ways to integrate at least some of your childhood dreams into your life. It could be taking a class in that subject, volunteering in the field, or attending networking events. Make connections. Plenty of people happily and safely change occupations. It’s a risk you may want to take.” 

In July 2024, an online panel survey of 3,000 adults based on age, gender, and geography was conducted. Internal data sources were used to obtain population data sets. We used a two-step process to ensure representativeness through stratified sampling and post-stratification weighting.