List of High Paying Careers

In choosing a career, do you go with what has the highest money making potential or what gives you the most personal satisfaction? Rather than choose, you can have both if you start by selecting a career goal and systematically achieving the training and education necessary to enter that career at a higher level.

A List of Today’s High Paying Careers

Think about what you enjoy doing most - whether it’s working with people, doing hands-on projects or working independently with information systems. For example, both a Surgeon and a Psychiatrist are physicians with the same basic training. 

A Psychiatrist spends more time working one-on-one with patients while the Surgeon sees most patients when they are asleep. Both doctors have similar abilities, but choose areas of medicine that complement their personalities and work style preferences. 

Knowing what you enjoy doing and where your greatest skills are can help in choosing a high income career that will also be satisfying. The U.S. Department of Labor identified the top 20 careers categorized by income earning potential:

1. Surgeon: $181,850
2. Anesthesiologist: $174,610
3. OB/GYN: $174,610
4. Oral and maxillofacial surgeon: $169,600
5. Internist: $156,790
6. Prosthodontist: $156,710
7. Orthodontist: $153,240
8. Psychiatrist: $151,380
9. Chief Executive Officer: $140,880
10. Engineering manager: $140,210
11. Pediatrician: $140,000
12. Family or general practitioner: $137,980
13. Physician/surgeon, all other: $137,100
14. Airline Pilot: $134,090
15. Dentist: $132,660
16. Podiatrist: $111,130
17. Lawyer: $110,590
18. Dentist, any other specialist: $106,040
19. Air traffic controller: $100,430
20. Computer and information systems manager: $100,110

All of those top 20 highest paying careers require advanced training and most demand both college degree and graduate or professional school. That could be 8-10 years of education after high school which is a major investment of time and money. The payoff is that the income earning potential remains high for the remainder of working years.

If you aren’t interested in college or racking up thousands of dollars in student loans, then you need to look for a career with higher than average earnings potential yet offers entry opportunities without a college degree:

1. Funeral home director: $79,517
2. Operations manager: $77,839
3. Industrial production manager: $73,000
4. Transportation manager: $72,662
5. Storage and distribution manager: $69,898
6. Computer technical support specialist: $67,689
7. Gaming manager: $64,880
8. First-line supervisor/manager of police and detective: $64,430
9. Nuclear power reactor operator: $64,090
10. Computer specialist: $59,480
11. Non-retail supervisors/manager: $59,300
12. Nuclear technician: $59,200
13. First-line supervisor/manager of fire fighting and prevention worker: $58,920
14. Real estate broker: $58,720
15. Elevator installer and repairer: $58,710
16. Sales representative, various products: $58,580
17. Dental hygienist: $59,790
18. Radiation therapist: $57,700
19. Nuclear medicine technologist: $56,450
20. Power plant distributor/ dispatcher: $57,330

Information of highest paying careers is updated annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and posted in the Occupational Employment section at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.toc.htm.