Job Search. How the 250 Best-Paying Jobs Were Selected

If you have read up to this point, you know that the jobs in this book were selected because they pay at least $46,300 per year. Here are a few more details about how we created the list of 250 jobs:

1. We began by creating our own database of information from the O*NET, the Census Bureau, and other sources to include the information we wanted. This database covers 1,167 job titles at all levels of education and training.

2. We eliminated 219 O*NET jobs for which we lacked useful information, such as work tasks or earnings, plus 13 jobs that are expected to employ fewer than 500 workers per year and to shrink rather than grow in workforce size. We also combined 36 very similar college teaching jobs into one job.

3. From the remaining 900 jobs, we removed all the jobs except those that pay what is earned by the highest-paid 25 percent of Americans-that is, those with average earnings of $46,300 or higher. Note that this figure is based on people's occupational earnings, not earnings from investments and other sources. (The exact figure is $46,180, but for this book we rounded it upward slightly.) This left a list of 250 high-paying jobs.

Why This Book Has More Than 250 Jobs

We didn't think you would mind that this book actually provides information on more than 250 jobs. Among the jobs it includes are 36 specialized postsecondary education jobs that we combined into one job called Teachers, Postsecondary. We use this one job title throughout the lists but provide descriptions for all 36 specialized postsecondary teaching jobs in Part II. You can find the titles of all of these jobs in the "Some Details on the Lists" section at the beginning of Part I.

This means that although we used 250 job titles to construct the basic list of highpaying jobs, we have a total of 285 job descriptions in Part II.

The Data in This Book Can Be Misleading

We use the most reliable data we can obtain for the earnings, projected growth, number of openings, and other information to create this book, but keep in mind that this information may or may not be accurate for your situation. This is because the information is true on the average. But just as there is no precisely average person, there is no such thing as a statistically average example of a particular job. We say this because data, while helpful, can also be misleading.

Take, for example, the yearly earnings information in this book. This is highly reliable data obtained from a very large U.S. working population sample by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It tells us the median annual pay received by people in various job titles. This sounds very useful until you consider that half of all people in that occupation earn less than that amount and half earn more. (We often use "average" instead of "median" elsewhere in this book for ease of explanation.)

For example, people just entering the occupation or people with few years of work experience will often earn much less than the average. People who live in rural areas or who work for smaller employers typically earn less than those who do similar work in cities, where the cost of living is higher, for larger employers, or in high-growth industries. To help you focus on the most lucrative opportunities, for every occupation described in Part II we list the five industries in which income is highest and the five metropolitan areas where income is highest. But remember that just as these instances exceed the average, other industries and geographical locations offer earnings that are considerably below the average.

So, in reviewing the information in this book, please understand the limitations of the data it presents. You need to use common sense in career decision-making as in most other things in life. Even so, we hope that you find the information helpful and interesting.

Part I: The Best-Paying Jobs Lists

There are 59 separate lists in Part I of this book-look in the table of contents for a complete list of them. The lists are not difficult to understand because they have clear titles and are organized into groupings of related lists.

Depending on your situation, some of the jobs lists in Part I will interest you more than others. For example, if you are young, you may be interested to learn the best-paying jobs that employ high percentages of workers age 16-24. Other lists show best-paying jobs within interest groupings, by personality type, by level of education, and in other ways that you might find helpful in exploring your career options.

Whatever your situation, we suggest that you use the lists that make sense for you in beginning your exploration of best-paying career options. Following are the names of each group of lists along with short comments on each group. You will find additional information in a brief introduction provided at the beginning of each group of lists in Part I.

The Best-Paying Jobs

The first three lists in this group are the ones that most people want to see first. The first list presents all 250 job titles in order of their average earnings. The second list are subsets of the first list: the 100 jobs projected to grow most rapidly and the 100 jobs with the most openings. Two lists highlight jobs where the earnings are particularly high: 20 jobs with a few "star" earners and 43 jobs in which almost everyone is well-paid. The next two lists get even more specific, identifying situations in which average earnings are over $100,000 per year: one in terms of jobs and industries, the other in terms of jobs and metropolitan areas. Finally, there is a list of jobs in which women's average earnings are not greatly lower than men's.

Best-Paying Jobs with High Percentages of Workers Age 16-24, Workers Age 55 and Over, Part-Time Workers, Self-Employed Workers, Women, and Men

This group of lists presents interesting information for a variety of types of people based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The lists are arranged into groups for workers age 16-24, workers age 55 and older, part-time workers, self-employed workers, women, and men. Each group of lists includes jobs in which the concentration of the specific type of people is significantly above the average for all jobs. We created three lists for each group, basing the last two on the information in the first list:

The jobs with the highest earnings (the number of jobs varies)

The 25 jobs with the highest growth rates

The 25 jobs with the largest number of openings

Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Levels of Education, Training, and Experience

We created separate lists for each level of education and training as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor and put each of the 250 best-paying jobs into the list that indicates the education and training required for entry. Jobs within these lists are presented in order of their earnings. The lists include jobs in these groupings:

Short-term on-the-job training

Moderate-term on-the-job training

Long-term on-the-job training

Work experience in a related job

Postsecondary vocational training

Associate degree

Bachelor's degree

Work experience plus degree

Master's degree

Doctoral degree

First professional degree

Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Interests

These lists organize the 250 best-paying jobs into groups based on interests. Within each list, jobs are presented in order of their earnings. Here are the 16 interest areas used in these lists: Agriculture and Natural Resources; Architecture and Construction; Arts and Communication; Business and Administration; Education and Training; Finance and Insurance; Government and Public Administration; Health Science; Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation; Human Service; Information Technology; Law and Public Safety; Manufacturing; Retail and Wholesale Sales and Service; Scientific Research, Engineering, and Mathematics; Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics.

Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Personality Types

These lists organize the 250 best-paying jobs into six personality types, which are described in the introduction to the lists: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The jobs within each list are presented in order of their earnings.

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eBook	250 Best-Paying Jobs


Table of Contents How the 250 Best-Paying... Useful links	How the 250 Best-Paying Jobs Were Selected If you have read up to this point, you know that the jobs in this book were selected because they pay at least $46,300 per year. Here are a few more details about how we created the list of 250 jobs: 1. We began by creating our own database of information from the ONET, the Census Bureau, and other sources to include the information we wanted. This database covers 1,167 job titles at all levels of education and training. 2. We eliminated 219 ONET jobs for which we lacked useful information, such as work tasks or earnings, plus 13 jobs that are expected to employ fewer than 500 workers per year and to shrink rather than grow in workforce size. We also combined 36 very similar college teaching jobs into one job. 3. From the remaining 900 jobs, we removed all the jobs except those that pay what is earned by the highest-paid 25 percent of Americans-that is, those with average earnings of $46,300 or higher. Note that this figure is based on people's occupational earnings, not earnings from investments and other sources. (The exact figure is $46,180, but for this book we rounded it upward slightly.) This left a list of 250 high-paying jobs. Why This Book Has More Than 250 Jobs We didn't think you would mind that this book actually provides information on more than 250 jobs. Among the jobs it includes are 36 specialized postsecondary education jobs that we combined into one job called Teachers, Postsecondary. We use this one job title throughout the lists but provide descriptions for all 36 specialized postsecondary teaching jobs in Part II. You can find the titles of all of these jobs in the "Some Details on the Lists" section at the beginning of Part I. This means that although we used 250 job titles to construct the basic list of highpaying jobs, we have a total of 285 job descriptions in Part II. The Data in This Book Can Be Misleading We use the most reliable data we can obtain for the earnings, projected growth, number of openings, and other information to create this book, but keep in mind that this information may or may not be accurate for your situation. This is because the information is true on the average. But just as there is no precisely average person, there is no such thing as a statistically average example of a particular job. We say this because data, while helpful, can also be misleading. Take, for example, the yearly earnings information in this book. This is highly reliable data obtained from a very large U.S. working population sample by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It tells us the median annual pay received by people in various job titles. This sounds very useful until you consider that half of all people in that occupation earn less than that amount and half earn more. (We often use "average" instead of "median" elsewhere in this book for ease of explanation.) For example, people just entering the occupation or people with few years of work experience will often earn much less than the average. People who live in rural areas or who work for smaller employers typically earn less than those who do similar work in cities, where the cost of living is higher, for larger employers, or in high-growth industries. To help you focus on the most lucrative opportunities, for every occupation described in Part II we list the five industries in which income is highest and the five metropolitan areas where income is highest. But remember that just as these instances exceed the average, other industries and geographical locations offer earnings that are considerably below the average. So, in reviewing the information in this book, please understand the limitations of the data it presents. You need to use common sense in career decision-making as in most other things in life. Even so, we hope that you find the information helpful and interesting. Part I: The Best-Paying Jobs Lists There are 59 separate lists in Part I of this book-look in the table of contents for a complete list of them. The lists are not difficult to understand because they have clear titles and are organized into groupings of related lists. Depending on your situation, some of the jobs lists in Part I will interest you more than others. For example, if you are young, you may be interested to learn the best-paying jobs that employ high percentages of workers age 16-24. Other lists show best-paying jobs within interest groupings, by personality type, by level of education, and in other ways that you might find helpful in exploring your career options. Whatever your situation, we suggest that you use the lists that make sense for you in beginning your exploration of best-paying career options. Following are the names of each group of lists along with short comments on each group. You will find additional information in a brief introduction provided at the beginning of each group of lists in Part I. The Best-Paying Jobs The first three lists in this group are the ones that most people want to see first. The first list presents all 250 job titles in order of their average earnings. The second list are subsets of the first list: the 100 jobs projected to grow most rapidly and the 100 jobs with the most openings. Two lists highlight jobs where the earnings are particularly high: 20 jobs with a few "star" earners and 43 jobs in which almost everyone is well-paid. The next two lists get even more specific, identifying situations in which average earnings are over $100,000 per year: one in terms of jobs and industries, the other in terms of jobs and metropolitan areas. Finally, there is a list of jobs in which women's average earnings are not greatly lower than men's. Best-Paying Jobs with High Percentages of Workers Age 16-24, Workers Age 55 and Over, Part-Time Workers, Self-Employed Workers, Women, and Men This group of lists presents interesting information for a variety of types of people based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The lists are arranged into groups for workers age 16-24, workers age 55 and older, part-time workers, self-employed workers, women, and men. Each group of lists includes jobs in which the concentration of the specific type of people is significantly above the average for all jobs. We created three lists for each group, basing the last two on the information in the first list: The jobs with the highest earnings (the number of jobs varies) The 25 jobs with the highest growth rates The 25 jobs with the largest number of openings Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Levels of Education, Training, and Experience We created separate lists for each level of education and training as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor and put each of the 250 best-paying jobs into the list that indicates the education and training required for entry. Jobs within these lists are presented in order of their earnings. The lists include jobs in these groupings: Short-term on-the-job training Moderate-term on-the-job training Long-term on-the-job training Work experience in a related job Postsecondary vocational training Associate degree Bachelor's degree Work experience plus degree Master's degree Doctoral degree First professional degree Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Interests These lists organize the 250 best-paying jobs into groups based on interests. Within each list, jobs are presented in order of their earnings. Here are the 16 interest areas used in these lists: Agriculture and Natural Resources; Architecture and Construction; Arts and Communication; Business and Administration; Education and Training; Finance and Insurance; Government and Public Administration; Health Science; Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation; Human Service; Information Technology; Law and Public Safety; Manufacturing; Retail and Wholesale Sales and Service; Scientific Research, Engineering, and Mathematics; Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics. Best-Paying Jobs Lists Based on Personality Types These lists organize the 250 best-paying jobs into six personality types, which are described in the introduction to the lists: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The jobs within each list are presented in order of their earnings. back to top Next page
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