Statement of the Problem: The purposes of this study were to examine the factors that contribute to the job satisfaction of principals in 2 metropolitan school districts and to identify specific perspectives of those principals related to job satisfaction. Many studies have been done on job satisfaction of workers, including the job satisfaction of teachers; however, there have been very few studies on the job satisfaction of principals. The significance of the role of the principal in the overall operations of the school is very important. The relationship between job satisfaction and the factors of principals' experience, gender, school type, degree attainment, school size, salary, and age were also assessed.

Methods: The researcher employed qualitative and quantitative procedures to evaluate principal satisfaction. A questionnaire was distributed to principals. An open-ended question on the questionnaire and personal interviews were used to gain additional views of principals about job satisfaction. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics along with ANOVAs and MANOVAs.

Results: Principals regardless of experience, gender, school type, degree attainment, school size, race, salary, and age had similar views on what brought about job satisfaction. However, there was significance in the areas of experience, degree, and race. The responses of the principals indicated that the subscale Service to Others brought about the greatest satisfaction to principals. The subscales of Practices, Advancement, and Salary brought about the least satisfaction. Principals also indicated that school size and the ability to make their own decisions were important.

Conclusions: The data revealed that there was no major variation in principals' perspectives on the mean score ratings on the overall categories. The fact that race was significant implies that additional, in-depth research should be done to gain information on how a higher satisfaction can be achieved in this area. Principals, regardless of demographic characteristics, rated the subscale of Service to Others highest. More training in the subscale area of Practices should be done to improve satisfaction. School size was a major factor in job satisfaction.