25 Best Jobs for Work-Life Balance

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Oct 20, 9:35AM EDT · Published Oct 20, 6:59AM EDT

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A number of studies show Americans work longer than residents of almost every other nation. In particular, compared with most large nations in Europe, the American workweek can stretch as long as a week above many of the most well-developed nations. Glassdoor has come up with a list of 25 jobs that have a good “work-life balance,” as its researchers see it.

The jobs were rated based on a five-point scale on which a 1 was “very dissatisfied” and a 5 was “very satisfied.” Glassdoor researchers commented:

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be tough in today’s work environment, but some jobs allow for more flexibility than others. In fact, work-life balance has decreased in recent years, as employees have reported an average work-life balance satisfaction rating of 3.5 in 2009, 3.4 in 2012, and 3.2 thus far in 2015.

The figure is based on reviews posted on the Glassdoor site:

Average work-life balance ratings based on at least 60,000 company reviews shared by employees per calendar year. For 2015, rating represents calendar year to date (1/1/15-10/13/15).

Among the most notable results is that the jobs varied widely in pay level. At one end of the spectrum among the 25 jobs, data scientists made $114,808 a year. At the other end, substitute teachers made $24,380. For a family of four people, that is just above the poverty line.

Of the 25, half or more are technology or technology-related jobs. These include software developer, data analyst, software QA engineer, web developer, UX designer and data scientist. All these jobs are well paid.

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The results, directly from Glassdoor, and full with attribution:

1. Data Scientist

Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.2

Salary: $114,808

2. SEO Manager

Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

Salary: $45,720

3. Talent Acquisition Specialist

Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.0

Salary: $63,504

4. Social Media Manager

Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.0

Salary: $40,000

5. Substitute Teacher

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.9

Salary: $24,380

6. Recruiting Coordinator

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.9

Salary: $44,700

7. UX Designer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.9

Salary: $91,440

8. Digital Marketing Manager

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.9

Salary: $70,052

9. Marketing Assistant

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $32,512

10. Web Developer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $66,040

11. Risk Analyst

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $69,088

12. Civil Engineer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $65,532

13. Client Manager

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $71,120

14. Instructional Designer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $66,040

15. Marketing Analyst

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $60,000

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16. Software QA Engineer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $91,440

17. Web Designer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $53,848

18. Research Technician

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.8

Salary: $36,525

19. Program Analyst

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $71,120

20. Data Analyst

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $58,928

21. Content Manager

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $60,960

22. Solutions Engineer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $92,456

23. Lab Assistant

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $27,550

24. Software Developer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $80,000

25. Front End Developer

Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.7

Salary: $75,000

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.