Highest-Paying Jobs in the US
Do what you love and the money will follow is great in theory, but the truth of the matter is, certain jobs and fields simply pay more. The Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey showed, for example, that white-collar earnings, which averaged $21.85 per hour, were the highest among occupational groups. Blue-collar pay averaged $15.03 per hour, while the
hourly pay of service occupations averaged just $10.40.
The
jobs that pay the most require at least a four-year college degree. According to the most recent data from the Employment Policy Foundation, the nation’s 12 top-paying jobs -- and the mean annual income reported in 2003 for each -- were:
Top Paying Jobs Overall
Physicians and surgeons -- $147,000
Aircraft pilots -- $133,500
Chief executives -- $116,000
Electrical and electronic engineers -- $112,000
Lawyers and judges -- $99,800
Dentists -- $90,000
Pharmacists -- $85,500
Management analysts -- $84,700
Computer and information system managers -- $83,000
Financial analysts, managers and advisors -- $84,000
Marketing and sales managers -- $80,000
Education administrators -- $80,000
Though many of these occupations require an advanced degree, there are jobs at every education level that pay more than other jobs for workers with similar levels of schooling. Here, courtesy of the Employment Policy Foundation, is a look at the best-paying occupations at varying education levels:
Top Paying Jobs That Do Not Require a High School Degree
These jobs tend to require substantial on-the-job training and work experience rather than formal education and schooling:
Industrial production managers -- $36,000
Bailiffs, correctional officers and jailers -- $36,400
Drafters -- $36,000
Construction manager -- $33,600
Electricians -- $31,900
Top Paying Jobs for High School Graduates
These occupations emphasize work experience and on-the-job training rather than formal education:
Computer software engineers -- $58,900
Computer/information systems managers -- $56,400
Computer programmers -- $55,000
Network systems and data communications analysts -- $49,000
General and operations managers -- $48,000
Database, network and computer systems administrators -- $48,000
Top Paying Jobs for a Two-Year College Degree
The following jobs tend to be technical in nature, emphasizing skills developed on the job as well as job-specific training and certifications:
Healthcare practitioners -- $66,000
Business analysts -- $58,000
Electrical and electronic engineers -- $57,000
Mechanical engineers -- $56,800
General and operations managers -- $54,000
Computer and information systems managers -- $50,400
"A look at expected earnings over a lifetime shows the economic benefit of higher education attainment," says Tony Carnevale, who chaired President Clinton’s National Commission for Employment Policy and authored several books, including "America and the New Economy: How New Competitive Standards are Radically Changing American Workplaces."
A person with a doctoral or professional degree, for example, is expected to earn about $3 million over the course of his or her working life while a person without a high school diploma is expected to earn less than $1 million.
"Despite an increasing supply of well-educated workers, the college wage premium has nearly doubled since 1980, largely because of the added value of a college education in the new knowledge economy," adds Carnevale.
The Employment Policy Forum concurs, but stresses that these numbers are only averages. Individual earnings depend on many factors inducing geographic location, employer size (average hourly earnings ranged from $15.06 in organizations employing between 1 and 99 workers to $24.09 in those with 2,500 workers or more), industry (workers in goods-producing industries earned $18.46 an hour vs. those in service-producing industries who earned $16.44 an hour) and the worker’s skills and characteristics.
Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues. Other writers contributed to this article.
