Highest Paying Jobs in the U.S.

Top Paying Jobs Overall
These are the 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
  • 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
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    1 comment so far ↓

    #1 Julia Schopick on 11.25.06 at 1:43 pm

    I am in the process of collecting information for an article that I plan to post on my website, http://www.honestmedicine.com, on the topic of physicians’ incomes. So, I must admit that I was not at all surprised to learn that, according to this recent survey, doctors are the highest income earners in the US.

    But there is one fact that may surprise many people. I know it surprised me.

    When we read about physicians’ incomes, these incomes are most often listed in terms of NET INCOME, while the incomes for the rest of us are listed in terms of GROSS. This means, of course, that doctors are even better paid compared to the rest of us than this survey suggests.

    For instance, according to a very interesting article on the Center for Studying Health System Change website:

    “Despite the downward trend in real incomes, medicine overall remains one of the most well-paid professions in the United States: At least half of all patient care physicians earned more than $170,000 in 2003, and physician average net income was approximately $203,000. And, although surgical specialists have lost ground to inflation since the mid-1990s, they remain the highest-earning of all physicians: Their average income of $272,000 in 2003 was 29 percent higher than medical specialists and 86 percent higher than primary care physicians.”

    See http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/851/#ib7 for the above quote.

    And the AMA publication, “American Medical News,” reports the exact same (net income) figures in its article, “Physician income not rising as fast as other professional pay,” on July 24/31, 2006 at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/site/free/prsc0724.htm

    So why then do doctors feel that they are being shortchanged – even abused — in the income department? For instance, this article from “Medical Economics” at http://301url.com/doctorsincomes starts out with: “The earnings tide may be turning” and uses words such as “meager,” “dismal,” “doldrums” and “losing side” to describe primary care physicians’ incomes.

    My Dad was a general practitioner in the 1940s through mid-1970s, and even way back then, he thought his fellow doctors were greedy. (See http://301url.com/louschopick). But still, I don’t quite understand why doctors feel so put upon, when they are so well paid. But they do.

    Julia Schopick
    Http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com

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