Burnout rates by profession: what our assessment data shows
Which professions report burnout most often in our career assessment? See the figures from 28,427 assessment takers below. If you recognize your own situation, use the decision guide to compare changing your working conditions, moving roles or exploring a different field without assuming you need to quit.
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Guide updated October 8, 2026 · data computed October 9, 2026
The short answer
In our self-selected group of 28,427 career assessment takers (February - October 2026), 48% selected burnout as a current pain. It ranks first among reported pains in 11 of 13 professions we track. These are not national burnout rates. For your own decision, the useful question is which working conditions need to change, and which options could change them.
Burnout rates by profession, among 28,427 people who took our career assessment
The share of each profession's assessment takers who selected burnout as a current pain, and where it ranks among that profession's own pains. This measures the people who came to us, not the profession as a whole:
| Profession | Name burnout | Rank among their pains | Respondents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurses | 65% | #1 pain | 555 |
| Healthcare workers | 60% | #1 pain | 1,411 |
| Teachers | 56% | #1 pain | 2,950 |
| Executives | 53% | #1 pain | 2,418 |
| Engineers & software developers | 52% | #1 pain | 797 |
| Lawyers & legal professionals | 50% | #1 pain | 410 |
| Accountants | 49% | #1 pain | 1,316 |
| Project managers | 49% | #1 pain | 1,824 |
| Retail & hospitality workers | 47% | #2 pain (feeling underpaid #1) | 777 |
| Marketers | 46% | #1 pain | 1,551 |
| Sales professionals | 44% | #1 pain | 1,552 |
| Analysts & researchers | 44% | #1 pain | 823 |
| Administrative professionals | 38% | #4 pain (feeling underpaid #1) | 2,197 |
Self-reported figures: the share of each profession's assessment takers who selected burnout among their current pains, computed October 9, 2026 from 28,427 completed Make the Leap assessments (collected February - October 2026). Working adults describing their own situation, not a probability sample - so these are burnout rates among people who took our assessment, not estimates of how common burnout is across each profession. Each profession links to its full data-backed career guide; the method lives in our research hub.
The professions where burnout is not the top reported pain — retail & hospitality workers and administrative professionals — have feeling underpaid ahead of it. These patterns can suggest questions to ask about a workplace, but this dataset does not establish what caused anyone's burnout. A job title alone cannot tell you what its workload, support or daily responsibilities will be.
Who reports burnout in this assessment?
Among the 13,636 assessment takers who selected burnout, 64% are 15 or more years into their careers, 44% earn $90K or more, and 25% earn $120K+ (the well-paid version of stuck has its own name and its own playbook). These figures describe our respondents, not the age or income distribution of burnout across the workforce.
And it rarely travels alone. Among the burned-out, 39% also feel underpaid, 38% name a bad culture, 31% a lack of meaning, and 0% no room to grow. That co-occurrence means it is worth separating concerns about workload, pay, culture and meaning rather than expecting one career move to solve all of them. In this cohort, 66% of the burned-out say they feel a clock running on making a change.
What are the signs of career burnout?
The WHO describes exhaustion, distance or cynicism toward work, and reduced effectiveness. Its definition concerns the workplace. These signs are a reason to take your experience seriously, not a test that tells you whether to resign. See the WHO definition (May 28, 2019).
Burned out: change the conditions, the role or the field?
Start with what a better working week needs to contain — and what it needs to stop demanding. You may still enjoy your profession while needing a different schedule or manager. Or the core work may no longer fit your interests and priorities. The options below are starting points for investigation, not diagnoses.
| Option to explore | When it may fit | Evidence to gather first |
|---|---|---|
| Reshape your current work | You still value the work, but its volume, hours or responsibilities are unsustainable. | Identify one change to discuss with an appropriate manager or support contact. Check whether it is feasible and how you would tell if it helped. |
| Move team, employer or role | You want to keep much of your experience and work, with different conditions. | Ask people doing the target job about an ordinary week, staffing, decision-making and after-hours expectations. Compare the answers with your non-negotiables. |
| Explore a different field | You want different core activities, not only relief from this particular workplace. | Try a small representative task or arrange a conversation before committing to retraining. Check qualifications, realistic entry pay and the day-to-day work. |
| Test independent work | You want more autonomy and are interested in serving customers or clients. | Talk to a potential customer about a specific problem. Check demand, delivery effort and costs before relying on it for income. Independence also includes selling and administration. |
You can also pause career exploration and focus on support or recovery. The WHO's workplace guidance (September 15, 2026) identifies workload, low control and limited support among risks, and recommends addressing working conditions. The burden does not belong solely to the person feeling exhausted.
A small decision exercise you can use now
- Name the change. Write one thing you want less of and one activity you still enjoy. Be specific: unpredictable evening work is more useful than “everything is wrong.”
- Protect what matters. Note your income needs, family commitments, location and available energy. Keep these separate from aspirations you hope to reach later.
- Choose one comparison. Compare two options against those requirements — such as a different employer versus a different field. Identify what you do not yet know.
- Choose one manageable check. Ask one informed question, examine a few relevant job postings or try a short sample task. Set a review point that fits your capacity. Continuing, adapting or ruling an option out can all be useful results.
For the broader decision to leave, see should I quit my job? If income limits your options, use our burned out but can't afford to quit guide.
What our assessment recommends burned-out people do next
We generate three personalized career paths for everyone who completes the assessment, which gives us an unusual dataset: the directions our assessment recommended to 13,629 burned-out people, read from their own answers. These are recommendations, not observed career moves - we don't track what anyone went on to do. The named themes, counted once per person:
| Recommended path theme | Share of burned-out takers recommended it |
|---|---|
| Starting an independent business | 35% |
| Consulting or fractional work | 30% |
| Mission-driven and nonprofit work | 23% |
| Program and operations roles | 23% |
| Training, facilitation, and speaking | 21% |
Excludes a general “other specialist paths” grouping (27%) - a catch-all of niche, role-specific directions that don't form one coherent destination.
These themes give you options to investigate, not a prescription for independence. A salaried role with better conditions, a reshaped current role or a pause may fit better than starting a business. Compare the actual tasks, income requirements and demands of each option with the working life you want. Our generated recommendations do not show which option helped anyone recover.
What if quitting isn't financially on the table?
Income, benefits and family responsibilities belong in the decision from the beginning. Our guide explores steps you can consider while protecting the income you still need: burned out but can't afford to quit.
Where a career page honestly ends
If exhaustion or distress is affecting your everyday functioning, or you are unsure what is causing it, speak with a qualified health professional. A career assessment can organize options for your working life; it cannot assess your health or provide treatment. You do not need to settle your career direction before seeking support.
Turn the comparison into options for your own life
If you have the capacity to explore but need help organizing the possibilities, Career Leap uses your written answers about experience, interests, priorities and constraints to generate a working-style profile and three career paths with projected income ranges. Those free results give you starting points to evaluate, not an instruction to quit.
- Free results: see three directions and why they may fit your answers.
- Optional $29 Brief: compare the three paths in more depth, including fit, income projections and a recommendation with its reasoning.
- Optional $79 Roadmap: includes the Brief, experiments for exploring the paths, a four-week program and 30 days of assessment-aware AI coaching.
See the sample career assessment, Brief and Roadmap before deciding whether the approach suits you. Start with your free results; buying more support is optional. Make the Leap publishes this guide and sells these products.
Explore your career options — free assessmentAbout 10 minutes · no credit card · income figures are estimates, not promises
Frequently asked questions
What is career burnout?
The WHO describes burnout as a consequence of workplace stress that remains unmanaged, involving exhaustion, distance or cynicism toward work, and reduced effectiveness. It classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. A career assessment can help explore work options; it cannot diagnose the cause of exhaustion.
How common is career burnout?
Among 28,427 Make the Leap assessment takers (February - October 2026), 48% selected burnout as a current pain, ahead of feeling underpaid (43%). It ranks first among reported pains in 11 of 13 tracked professions. This is a self-selected group considering their careers, not a representative workforce survey or a clinical measure.
Which professions have the highest burnout?
Among people who took our assessment, the ranking is nurses 65%, healthcare workers 60%, teachers 56%, executives 53%, engineers & software developers 52%, lawyers & legal professionals 50%, accountants 49%, project managers 49%, retail & hospitality workers 47%, marketers 46%, sales professionals 44%, analysts & researchers 44%, administrative professionals 38%. These figures describe respondents in each profession, not everyone working in it. Use them to understand this cohort, not to choose a supposedly burnout-proof career.
Will changing careers fix my burnout?
Changing careers is not a guaranteed solution. Compare the conditions you need to change: workload, management, schedule, core tasks or the field's demands. A different team or a redesigned role may address some problems; a different field may be worth exploring if its day-to-day work fits better. Investigate the actual conditions of the next role before committing.
Is burnout a medical condition?
The WHO classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. That classification does not mean you should avoid health care. If exhaustion or distress is affecting everyday functioning, or you are unsure what is causing it, a qualified health professional can help assess your needs.
How is burnout different from depression?
Burnout refers specifically to work in the WHO definition. That does not let a website distinguish it from depression or another cause of distress. If you are concerned about your health, seek a professional assessment rather than using a career quiz to decide which label applies.
What careers does the assessment recommend to burned-out people?
Across recommendations generated for 13,629 assessment takers who selected burnout, named themes include starting an independent business (35%), consulting or fractional work (30%), mission-driven and nonprofit work (23%), program and operations roles (23%), training, facilitation, and speaking (21%). A catch-all group of other specialist paths accounts for 27%. These are generated recommendations, not observed career moves or proof that these jobs reduce burnout. Your own priorities and constraints matter more than the most common theme.
Can you change careers while you're still burned out?
Exploration can be small: identify one condition you need to change, preserve your income and recovery needs, and gather one useful piece of evidence. That might mean asking about workload in another team or talking to someone doing a role you are considering. You can also choose to pause exploration and seek support. You do not need to resign or buy retraining to begin thinking about your options.
Go deeper: the careers people say would make work feel worth it again, our full career change statistics study, the five kinds of job misery, career change by your situation, or the free career quiz. Weighing whether a next direction will hold up against AI? Our AI-proof careers guide covers durability.
Written by Jon Miksis - entrepreneur, retreat facilitator, and founder of Make the Leap. Jon has facilitated 6 immersive retreat experiences, attended 18 retreats across four continents, and spent 5+ years researching why smart, capable people stay stuck. He's traveled to 73 countries and invested over $120,000 in personal development. Guides on this site are built from Make the Leap's assessment data and reviewed by Jon; the methodology and its limits are published here.