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Ranked: America’s Top-Paying Jobs by Median Salary
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Key Takeaways
- Healthcare dominates America’s highest-paying occupations, with all 17 jobs above the BLS reporting cap of $239,200 belonging to the medical field.
- Airline pilots rank among the country’s highest-paid non-medical workers, earning a median annual wage of $226,600.
- Management and technology leadership roles round out the top-paying occupations outside healthcare.
Americans often associate the highest-paying jobs with CEOs and tech executives. But according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, healthcare occupations continue to dominate the top of the pay scale.
In fact, every occupation earning above the BLS reporting cap of $239,200 annually belongs to the medical field, including surgeons, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and other specialists.
The data for this visualization comes from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. It ranks U.S. occupations by median annual wage using May 2024 estimates while also showing total employment levels across each profession.
Medicine Continues to Dominate Top Pay
Healthcare’s dominance reflects a combination of strong demand and limited supply.
Becoming a physician typically requires four years of medical school followed by three to seven years of residency training, depending on specialty. In many fields, the number of residency positions also remains constrained, limiting the flow of new specialists into the workforce.
These barriers help explain why physician occupations continue to occupy nearly every position at the top of America’s median wage rankings.
| Occupation | Median Annual Wage | Total Employment | Field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surgeons, cardiologists, and other medical specialists | ≥$239.2K | 572K | Healthcare |
| Family Medicine Physicians | $238.4K | 108K | Healthcare |
| General Internal Medicine Physicians | $236.3K | 67K | Healthcare |
| Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers | $226.6K | 99K | Aviation |
| Dentists, All Other Specialists | $225.8K | 6K | Healthcare |
| Nurse Anesthetists | $223.2K | 50K | Healthcare |
| Pediatricians, General | $210.1K | 43K | Healthcare |
| Chief Executives | $206.4K | 212K | Management |
| Dentists, General | $172.8K | 113K | Healthcare |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | $171.2K | 646K | Management |
| Architectural and Engineering Managers | $167.7K | 210K | Management |
| Physicists | $166.3K | 21K | STEM |
| Financial Managers | $161.7K | 819K | Management |
| Natural Sciences Managers | $161.2K | 101K | Management |
| Marketing Managers | $161.0K | 385K | Management |
| Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates | $156.2K | 26K | Legal |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | $155.0K | 76K | STEM |
| Podiatrists | $152.8K | 10K | Healthcare |
| Lawyers | $151.2K | 748K | Legal |
| Air Traffic Controllers | $144.6K | 22K | Aviation |
| Petroleum Engineers | $141.3K | 19K | STEM |
| Computer and Information Research Scientists | $140.9K | 38K | STEM |
| Compensation and Benefits Managers | $140.4K | 20K | Management |
| Human Resources Managers | $140.0K | 216K | Management |
| Purchasing Managers | $139.5K | 81K | Management |
| Political Scientists | $139.4K | 6K | STEM |
| Public Relations Managers | $138.5K | 76K | Management |
| Medical Dosimetrists | $138.1K | 4K | Healthcare |
| Sales Managers | $138.1K | 604K | Management |
| Pharmacists | $137.5K | 329K | Healthcare |
| Managers, All Other | $136.6K | 631K | Management |
Family medicine physicians and general internal medicine physicians narrowly miss the reporting ceiling, earning median annual wages of $238,400 and $236,300, respectively. Together, the data shows that physician roles occupy nearly every position at the very top of America’s wage rankings.
Nurse anesthetists also rank fifth overall among uncapped occupations at more than $223,000 per year.
Pilot Salaries Surge After Pandemic Shortages
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers now rank as America’s third-highest-paying uncapped occupation, with median annual wages reaching $226,600.
Pilot wages climbed sharply following major union negotiations in 2023 and 2024. Airlines including Delta, United, and American agreed to large pay increases as carriers scrambled to address staffing shortages after the pandemic travel rebound.
The profession also faces strict supply constraints. Pilots must meet the FAA’s 1,500-hour flight requirement to earn an Airline Transport Pilot certification, while mandatory retirement rules at age 65 further tighten labor availability.
Air traffic controllers also appear among the top 20 highest-paying occupations, earning roughly $145,000 annually despite not requiring a bachelor’s degree.
Management and Tech Jobs Lead Outside Healthcare
Beyond medicine and aviation, management and technology occupations dominate the rankings.
Computer and information systems managers earn median wages of more than $171,000 annually, while architectural and engineering managers make nearly $168,000.
Financial managers, marketing managers, and sales managers also rank highly due to the scale and profitability of the industries they oversee.
Technology continues to produce some of the country’s best-paying non-medical careers as well, with computer hardware engineers and information research scientists benefiting from investment in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and cloud computing.
Chief executives rank seventh among uncapped occupations with median pay of roughly $206,000. However, the BLS figures significantly understate executive compensation because they exclude stock awards, options, and deferred compensation packages that often make up the majority of CEO pay.
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