image source: businessinsider.com
If you haven’t exactly saved enough up money to buy a yacht and a place in the Hamptons, maybe you’re in the wrong career. It’s important to find a job that you love, but finding a career that pays the bills is also ideal in today’s tough economy. Most of the entries on this list require years of schooling, but all that time and expense will pay off once you join the workforce.
It’s important for us to note that many of the highest-paying jobs in the U.S. include various positions within the medical community. To avoid this list looking like a half-dozen or more reasons you should’ve saved up and gone to med school, we’ve omitted some of the redundant medical careers; for example, we’re grouping all the medical doctors together for the sake of simplicity.
And if you really want to know just how profitable a career in medicine can be, take a look at the unabridged top 25 list, which we’ve included at the end of our list. Here are the top 10 highest-paying jobs in the U.S. as published in 2014 (the most recent data available) by the U.S. Department of Labor. Where can can, we've also included the 2012 mean wage, so you can see how much the average salary in each field in growing.
1. Doctors And Surgeons
Annual mean wage: $234,950
Training time: 11+ years
If you’ve got the time and budget to endure medical school in some form, you’ll be able to hear cash register sounds in your ears when you receive your first paycheck. Of all the medical professionals, anesthesiologists take home the most coin, with an annual mean wage of $246,320. Other medicine men and women aren’t far behind -- surgeons ($240,440), obstetricians and gynecologists ($214,750), and family and general practitioners ($186,320) all make a very nice living. The lowest-paid doctors, if you can even use that term, are pediatricians, who earn an annual mean wage of $175,400. Becoming a surgeon takes as much time as any career out there -- you’ll need a bachelor’s degree, a medical school degree and between three and eight years of working in residency.
2. Dentists And Orthodontists
2014:
Annual mean wage: $170,940 (Dentists), $201,030 (Orthodontists)
Training time: 8 years
2012:
$164,570 (Dentists), $196,270 (Orthodontists)
Dentists might occasionally play second fiddle to the doctors who often share the same facilities, but there’s nothing shabby about earning a living working on teeth. Of these specialists, orthodontists earn the highest annual mean wage.. Although there are more than 90,000 general dentists who make up the U.S. workforce, orthodontists are much rarer, hence their higher salary. Orthodontists number slightly more than 5,500, and there’s something to be said about a California smile -- the state has the highest number of orthodontists in the U.S. Working as a dentist varies throughout the country, but dentists typically require eight years of education and must pass written and hands-on exams.
3. Chief Executive Officers
2014:
Annual mean wage: $180,700
Training time: 6+ years
2012:
Annual mean wage: $178,400
The highest-paying job in the U.S. that doesn’t necessarily require years upon years of schooling is chief executive officer. CEOs call the shots in a long list of economic sectors. Few positions are more populated than chief executive officers; around 250,000 people have “CEO” listed as the job description on their business cards. An added perk to being a CEO? The best-compensated CEOs work in the film industry and enjoy an annual mean wage of over $225,000. Not surprisingly, California has the most CEOs of any state in the country. Becoming a CEO is about more than education. While a bachelor’s degree and an MBA help, nothing compares to on-the-job experience. It’s rare that someone will obtain the position of CEO before having worked extensively in the industry. The bonus you’ll receive after a successful year will make your salary look like chump change.
4. Petroleum Engineers
2014:
Annual mean wage: $137,400
Training time: 4+ years
Given the number of curse words you mutter every time you fill your gas tank, you might roll your eyes at petroleum engineers being among the country’s top-paid workers. But you owe a debt of gratitude to those who hold this position, as they facilitate the journey of oil and gas from under the Earth to your car’s engine. You might be surprised to know that there are more petroleum engineers than there are pediatricians working in the U.S. Nearly one in 10 petroleum engineers work in oil and gas extraction, and not surprisingly, the state of Texas has the most (and best-paid) petroleum engineers. Many petroleum engineers hold bachelor’s degrees in petroleum engineering and work in coop programs during the completion of their degree.
5. Architectural & Engineering Managers
2014
Annual mean wage: $137,400
Training time: 4+ years
2012:
$136,540
They might not have a job title that instantly earns respect, but architectural and engineering managers earn a healthy living in a number of different fields. Not surprisingly, those who work in the oil and gas industries are the most handsomely compensated; an architectural and engineering manager who focuses on the transportation of crude oil through a network of pipes has an average income of $189,410, while one involved in the extraction of oil and gas averages $164,990. Alaska, Texas and California are home to the top-paid architectural and engineering managers. Becoming an architectural and engineering manager requires a bachelor’s degree, at minimum, and experience working in the industry.
6. Marketing Managers
2014:
Annual mean wage: $137,400
Training time: 4+ years
2012:
$133,700
Marketing managers work in a wide range of industries, and the best make a handsome living because they’re skilled at getting their company’s message out to the public. The top-paid marketing managers work in oil and gas extraction, while those who work in financial services are also compensated well above average. Marketing is a field in which the required education is a bit cloudy. Many businesses want you to have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, but years of experience -- and an eye-catching portfolio -- can help elevate you to the level of marketing manager.
7. Natural Sciences Manager
2014:
Annual mean wage: $136,450
Training time: 4+ years
2012:
$132,850
As you might guess from the job title, natural sciences managers supervise scientists in such fields as biology, physics and chemistry, and split their time between office and lab work. Natural sciences managers who work at the state government level and for educational institutes earn lower-than-average wages for their position, while those who work in the insurance and aerospace industries earn much higher than the norm. Becoming a natural sciences manager typically requires a bachelor's degree in a scientific field, followed by several years of workings in labs.
8. Computer & Information System Managers
2014:
Annual mean wage: $136,380
Training time: 4+ years
2012: $132,570
How important are computer and information systems managers to most companies? When your computer crashes or you lose a file, you can’t call the IT department fast enough, right? IT managers not only manage a large IT support staff, but also plan and implement a company’s IT strategies. Attaining this position requires a bachelor’s degree in a computer or information science field and several years working in IT support. While IT managers work in virtually every industry, the best-compensated work is in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, where they average over $170,000 annually. By a wide margin, California has more IT managers than any other state.
9. Lawyers
2014:
Annual mean wage: $133,470
Training time: 7 years
2012: Annual mean wage: $131,990
People are quick to use colorful adjectives to describe lawyers, but when you’re in a bind, a good one can be a lifesaver. On average, lawyers make a comfortable living, in part due to the years of schooling required to attain their position and the fact that they earn a mean hourly wage on par with many positions in the medical field. More than half a million lawyers make up the workforce, with more than a third of those practicing general law, as opposed to working for various levels of government and industry. California and New York lead the way with more than 135,000 practicing lawyers working in the two states alone. Being able to think quickly and speak in front of groups are two attributes of a successful lawyer, but lawyers typically need a bachelor’s degree, three years of law school and completion of the bar exam.
10. Airline Pilots, Co-Pilots and Flight Engineers
2014:
Training time: 6+ years
Annual mean wage: $131,760
2012:
Annual mean wage: $129,600
Top-tier pilots enjoy a lot of perks -- free travel, obviously, plus it’s a cool job that comes with a boss uniform -- but getting there definitely means putting in some time.
Making the big bucks requires a Bachelor’s degree in an aviation-related discipline, an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and several hundred hours of pilot-in-command experience, as well as expensive and time-consuming specialized training in specific tools and devices and regular physical and mental testing. All told, it can take 10 years or longer before a newly minted pilot starts making serious cash flying the longer scheduled passenger flights for airlines. - Source: Askmen
