If you’re looking for a career that can pay the bills, we’ve got a list of the 50 top-paid jobs out there, plus resume examples and information from our How-to Become Guide. You’ll find everything you need to get inspired for a job that brings great financial wealth.
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Here’s a list of the 50 highest-paying jobs according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), with links to our How to Become guides and resume examples!
1. Cardiologist
Few bodily organs are as important as the human heart, and it shows in the average salary for cardiologists! Like most medical professions, the compensation makes sense because this career requires years of advanced training and specialization.
Without a doubt, anesthesiologists perform a very valuable job: ensuring that patients are comfortable, sedated, and pain-free for various procedures and surgeries. With the vital task to make patients comfortable to undergo treatment comes a high salary.
Orthodontists are specialists when it comes to the teeth-spacing element of dental hygiene. They identify and correct issues with misaligned teeth and jaws. They ensure that smiles are perfect by administering braces, retainers, and headgear.
Good mental health is essential for everyone, and psychiatrists play a vital role in diagnosing, preventing, and treating various mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. So, it makes sense that they are so well-compensated, considering all the nuance and advanced training that the job requires.
Being a surgeon is a high-pressure job that necessitates grace and precision under pressure, making sense that it pays top dollar. Anyone who wields a scalpel or powerful laser should earn a high salary –– that is a highly specialized skill with great responsibility.
Periodontists are oral health professionals who specialize in treating mouth tissues, most importantly the gums, and play an essential role in the placement of implants. In addition to four years of dental school, it requires an additional three years of training. So, it deserves to be well-paid.
Modern medicine is a highly specialized industry, and physicians go through rigorous training before they are certified and licensed professionals. Not to mention that your health means everything –– as such, physicians tend to get good financial compensation.
If you are going to let someone put a drill in your mouth, hopefully, they are happy about the amount of money they make. Dentists are an important part of your overall health. Dentistry requires steady hands, a careful eye, and a comprehensive education and training process.
Internal medicine physicians specialize in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases. As such, they get well taken care of by the hospitals and clinics they work for. Many years of preparation are necessary, and new information is constantly being discovered about diseases, so this career may even require ongoing education.
Obstetricians, also referred to as OB/GYN, are doctors who specialize in pregnancy, childbirth, and women’s reproductive health. Given that these professionals are entrusted with the serious task of bringing babies into this world, they should be and are well-compensated.
While a nurse anesthetist is not a fully licensed doctor like an anesthesiologist, they perform many of the same functions to administer numbing or pain-relieving medications. It’s a very serious responsibility because they must administer the proper dosage for the patient’s body weight and handle any potential allergic reactions.
Since children are the future, pediatricians have a very serious task. They specialize in testing, diagnosing and treating childhood illnesses and health problems. In addition to the four years of medical school, it’s required that they perform a three-year pediatrics residency.
A general practitioner is a physician that the whole family can rely on for non-specialized health issues. Like most roles in the medical field, it requires a minimum of seven years’ training to get licensed. To help doctors pay off their student debt, a high salary is expected.
An enterprise architect manager is the person responsible to upkeep and maintain the IT systems of a business. Since most modern companies depend on the stability of their computer networks, this is a greatly valued and important role.
Quantitative analysts are people who apply mathematical and statistical methods to solve a company’s financial problems. Since they are crucial to optimizing the economic structure of a business, good “quants” as they’re sometimes referred to, are prized, and it’s reflected in their salaries.
Vice presidents are in the upper tier of management at a company and tasked with business development. Because of the direct impact they can make on a company’s performance, they should be in the upper echelon of its pay structure.
In this day and age, information security experts play a very important role in the safeguard and protection of a company’s data. They must monitor the performance of systems at large and keep an eye out for irregularities to identify and remove potential threats, viruses, and malware.
Like enterprise architecture managers, these professionals play an important role in maintaining and keeping a company’s IT system in proper working order. Most candidates possess just a bachelor’s degree in IT or a similar field, but many candidates go on to pursue a master’s in IT and develop network specializations.
A software architect is a high-level software development expert who makes high-level design and organization choices and enforces the standards for coding, tools, and platforms to make production more streamlined and efficient.
Software engineering managers play a very central role in the development of new software. They design and oversee the production of software by directing the work of engineers. Most typically, many software engineer management positions only require a bachelor’s degree.
A clinical pharmacist is a studied professional who uses their in-depth drug knowledge to administer medication to patients. In addition to the duties normal pharmacists perform, such as quantifying dosages and counseling the patient, clinical pharmacists also monitor patients and give medical advice to physicians.
The professionals who design or serve as administrators for data warehouses must have impeccable communication, teamwork, and analytical skills because the payoff is great. Data warehouse architects are a vital core of many technology-focused companies.
For every web-based business, the performance of their site and sales platforms mean everything. So, site reliability engineers are in high demand because they monitor, analyze and troubleshoot site performance to optimize business sales and growth. Not only that, but they’re also the experts who get called to solve emergency crash issues.
Chief marketing officers call some pretty big shots about the image and brand direction of a company –– that means companies place their future in the hands of this role. So, they’re willing to pay top-dollar to hire a chief marketing officer with the vision, leadership, and market savvy to bring sustained growth.
Cloud computing is the future, it’s here, and engineers are highly prized for their abilities to design, troubleshoot and optimize cloud performance. Like other information technology experts, cultivating these skills requires some formal education and a great deal of hands-on experience.
A chief information officer (CIO) is the head honcho for the management, implementation, and usage of a company’s computer technologies. Companies want to make sure they’re attracting a talented person for the job with high average salaries for this role with all that responsibility.
Data scientists use analytics, models, statistics, and advanced mathematical systems to uncover powerful insights that may determine the direction of a company. That said, it’s worth it to many businesses to pay well to hire qualified data scientists.
Optometrists diagnose, manage and treat various disorders or diseases that can affect the human eye. As such, their work is very important to people’s vision-health and something that is well-compensated.
Solutions engineers are sales engineers responsible for the initial stage of interacting with users and customers to identify the many value propositions for targeting a product’s marketing campaign or launch. Solution engineers are the sought-after individuals who understand what will make a product sell, and their pay reflects that.
At many companies, the chief executive officer (CEO) is the most powerful decision-maker. It takes a lot of work and experience to develop the leadership, vision, and business knowledge necessary to head a successful company. As such, these individuals tend to be some of the world’s top-earners.
Pharmaceutical roles came into high demand due to the sheer number of baby boomers reaching retirement age; that created a need to attract talented young people. Pharmacy managers must be experts in their field and be held accountable for all inventory, staff knowledge, customer service, and order fulfillment.
Corporate controllers protect the assets of a corporation with a mixture of prediction, forecasting, and reporting. They are the trusted experts that companies use to guide their biggest financial decisions, so they are very well-compensated for their advice because it can be so profitable.
It certainly pays to look at feet. After all, podiatrists go through rigorous training and specialization before they’re certified doctors in analyzing, identifying, and treating various foot ailments and disorders.
Full-stack developers are engineers that need strong skills across a spectrum of clients, databases, programming languages, and servers. It’s a very diverse skill set that few engineers are capable of delivering.
Becoming a general counsel after law school is a lucrative career. Associate general counsels can work on several cases and have the freedom to work independently or with a legal firm.
No one wants bad financial advice! That’s why it makes perfect sense that financial planning and analysis managers do so well financially. They’re entrusted with people’s long-term investments to devise strategies, respond to market shifts and earn the highest possible yields for their clients.
A nurse practitioner is an advanced specialization beyond being a registered nurse in terms of training and responsibility. Nurse practitioners may also assess, diagnose and treat illnesses.
Corporate counsel can directly benefit a company by knowing tax laws, legal discourse, or procedure. If it ever comes down to a big corporate lawsuit, having good corporate counsel can make or break a company.
Analytics managers work closely with corporate leadership to devise strategies about what data will be focused on to evaluate company efficiency and success and contribute to growth. Sought-after analytics managers usually come from a math, statistics, or business analytics background.
Actuaries are financial experts who specialize in risk analysis and are called upon by clients to advise on a company’s fiscal direction. Most actuaries come from a finance background and are expected to produce models, reports, and statistics to make a good actuary a great investment for the business.
Software engineers have to be experts in coding and possess attention to detail to catch bugs and glitches in their projects. It makes sense that the high level of skill it takes to produce software warrants a solid living income.
Physician assistants are medical experts who assist doctors during procedures and treatments, so top-notch talent is necessary. A physician assistant program usually takes three years to complete to achieve certification.
Plant managers are responsible for every last element of the production, so it makes sense that businesses will shell out good money for top-tier talent. These professionals must be experts in production assembly lines, machines, and materials and possess good leadership and management skills.
Systems engineers are the backbone of every technological-based industry. Without them, nothing would get done. So, it’s no surprise that they tend to do very well for themselves salary-wise. Their skills in infrastructure organization, computer languages, and technology earn them a high spot on the pay scale.
Midwives are professionals who perform the very important and delicate task of bringing babies into the world by helping women before, during, and after childbirth. Anyone hired for such a serious and important function must be highly skilled and trustworthy.
A java developer is a coder specializing in the java language and is an essential member of software development teams. Without an expert in this specific skill, many projects would never get off the ground. As such, it’s reflected in the salary for this profession.
Like any financial management position, reporting managers do so well because they verify that its finances match its financial statements. Financial reporting managers are essential to ensuring the future stability of companies and accounts for every last penny.
Not many people have the patience, creative problem-solving, or careful sense of detail that mathematicians possess. Highly specialized math and statistics abilities can make companies a fortune.
Economists work hard to predict the viability of specific financial strategies and forecast and predict trends, so they’re worth top-dollar. Their ability to anticipate future trends and growth opportunities can be a driving force for many companies.
Aeronautical engineers design airplanes and understand issues related to aerodynamics, pressure, and function. To become a certified engineer requires four to five years of training approved by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). So aeronautics firms are willing to open up their pocketbooks to attract top engineering talent.
