I was reading a several month old issue of readers digest and they were talking about student loans. one of the things they discusses was that 48 of the 50 top paying jobs in the US require a college degree, there were only 2 that didnt (one was a nuclear technician or something, i forget the other). Ever since then ive been curious as to what these 50 jobs are.
Also, what are the 50 top paying undergrad degrees? I assume every engineering field is among them (chemical, mechanical, civil, industrial, nuclear, biomedical, agricultural, etc. etc).
I dont really plan on going into these fields because of the money i am just wondering as the 2 jobs readers digest listed payed about $29/hr which, although a good income, doesnt seem like one of the top 50 paying (classes of ) jobs in the US.
“Head of mega-profitable software company” apparently doesn’t need a college degree either - Gates hasn’t got one (but Ballmer has). It pays pretty well.
When I graduated, I remember that EE was up there. However, in the working world, in my experience, the people who make wa-a-a-a-y more than I (and I have two advanced degs) are bankers and salespeople.
My ex-girlfriend’s dad is a sales guy (also the nicest one I’ve ever met who hasn’t made feel like I need to take a shower after spending time with him – and I’m a lawyer :)) who doesn’t have a degree and he does quite nicely for himself (his wife only works b/c she’s bored).
The other profession is banker. Two of my closest friends are bankers and they’re both VPs (who isn’t?) w/BA in econ (one of my BAs) and both of them, their bonuses are more than my salary (and I’m in a large law firm). They could be lying, but they both have houses and expensive cars (2 - each) and expensive stuff to fill it. One is in debt financing (or something like that) and the other one is a investment banker (works a ton of hours). Of the two, I would say that i-banker is probably guaranteed the most. Everytime I think about wealth, I keep thinking that I’m in the wrong profession.
I’d say $29/hour is still a good wage for someone who is actually doing the job in question, and not managing others who do it. Also, it’s not that great in the big, expensive cities, but it’s certainly livable.
Thanks jk1245, after i posted this thread i found a website which listed the top 20. they are the same as the top 20 on your website but dont go into detail.
I assume the highest paying grad degrees are medical and the highest undergrad are engineering.
Interestingly, judges average slightly more than lawyers, though I’m sure I’ve seen at least one movie where a judge, bitter and envious about the high salaries earned by the lawyers that appeared before him, took bribes.
Some things in jk1245’s list don’t seem possible. Do flight attendants really make more than librarians? Or legislators only $7.32 an hour? Maybe some state legislators only receive a small stipend that isn’t supposed to support them fully.
Yeah Spectre, I’m thinking that the list must only take into account wages and not bonuses, profit sharing, etc.
I’d also like to see the more detailed info of the job descriptions and some more stat data (stnd dev, median, etc). I’m wondering if their “legislator” description includes town clerks and the like that are paid a few bucks for their part-time.
Similarily, I’d bet Chief Executive is the highest paid if you inlcude bonuses, options, and other perks, and if you cut off the description of “chief executive” at companies larger than 100 people or so. I bet it would be the highest by far.
A lot of that info is in the published by the labor dept here but you apparently can’t access the whole thing unless you order it.
They didn’t really break up the medical profession that much. There are many more specialties than what they listed that I am sure are at the top of the list. Psychiatry, Family Medicine and Peds tend to be at the low end of the scale for doctors. From what I remember from the stats I saw at the time I was applying for residency, Orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons were at the top of the surgery specialties (probably 250K per year on up). For nonsurgery, Interventional cardiologists and interventional radiologists are at the top, I think. However, even this is a bit misleading. Most of the top doctors make a base salary and then also often own the practice and make money off of it as a business, which leads to a much higher income.
If you're looking for the job where the "average" person in the field makes the highest salary, I am sure its medicine. However, if you rephrase the question to who has the highest income potential, its not going to be the medical profession. It would have to be Chief executives if you include there huge bonuses that many receive.
Sorry, double post, but I can’t edit for some reason…
For an interesting discussion of what groups have the highest net worth, check out the book The Millionare Next Door. The list is much different from the one shown here. High income does not necessarily equate to high net worth. Auctioneers really do very well as a group, according to the book.
Are you in residency and an IU med school grad HomerIU? My younger brother is trying to get into IU med school right now. his GPA is about 3.9 and his MCATs were 33, but he did shitty in the interview, so he probably wont get accepted.
on topic:
what im looking for are the highest 50 paying jobs in the US. i am wondering because the readers digest article said that making over 60k a year puts you in that category (understandably, 13 of the top 50 are medical & 14 of the top 50 are engineering). I may be sheltered but i always assumed there were more than 50 jobs that payed over 60k a year. However jk1245’s link seems to agree with this, the top 50 are 64k a year and up.
I imagine the figure for lawyers includes public interest and government lawyers. I would expect that as a general rule, judges earn significantly less money than do private lawyers who appear before them who have similar amounts of experience.
You talked to any librarians lately, Spectre? It’s definitely a job you go into for love, not money. Around here, unless you have an MLS, you can expect to start at less than $10 an hour working at the public libraries.
I graduated in '99 from med school at IU. I just finished residency.
Surely your borther will get in somewhere with a 3.9 and 33 on the MCAT.
And to me, 60K sounds low to be in the top 50.
