50 Highest Paying Careers and Occupations

Explore the top 50 highest paying careers and occupations. Includes hourly wage and annual salary figure as of 2019.

While viewing the data, you shouldn't judge a career's advantages only by the salary. There are other factors to take into account when investigating a career's compensation, including bonus pay, vacation time, health insurance benefits, pensions or retirement packages, and opportunities for advancement.

Equally important is not judging a career's disadvantages purely by the salary or whether or not the career is one of the 50 highest paying. Education cost, on-call responsibilities, competition for job openings, health risks, and job stress are a few potential downsides to dwell on.

#	Occupation	Hourly Wage	Annual Wage
1	Anesthesiologists	$127.88	$266,000
2	Surgeons	$121.10	$251,900
3	Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons	$116.70	$242,700
4	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$113.10	$235,200
5	Orthodontists	$110.28	$229,400
6	Psychiatrists	$103.89	$216,100
7	Physicians and Surgeons, All Other	$101.63	$211,400
8	Family and General Practitioners	$100.27	$208,600
9	Dentists, All Other Specialists	$96.15	$200,000
10	Internists, General	$95.37	$198,400
11	Prosthodontists	$94.69	$197,000
12	Chief Executives	$94.25	$196,100
13	Pediatricians, General	$90.16	$187,500
14	Dentists, General	$83.71	$174,100
15	Nurse Anesthetists	$81.47	$169,500
16	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	N/A	$161,300
17	Petroleum Engineers	$74.41	$154,800
18	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$71.99	$149,700
19	Podiatrists	$71.38	$148,500
20	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$70.33	$146,300
21	Marketing Managers	$70.01	$145,600
22	Financial Managers	$69.01	$143,500
23	Lawyers	$68.22	$141,900
24	Sales Managers	$66.18	$137,700

#	Occupation	Hourly Wage	Annual Wage
25	Natural Sciences Managers	$64.26	$133,700
26	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$62.50	$130,000
27	Law Teachers, Postsecondary	N/A	$129,800
28	Public Relations and Fundraising Managers	$61.39	$127,700
29	Personal Financial Advisors	$59.68	$124,100
30	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$59.56	$123,900
31	Human Resources Managers	$59.38	$123,500
32	General and Operations Managers	$59.35	$123,500
33	Physicists	$59.17	$123,100
34	Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary	N/A	$122,900
35	Purchasing Managers	$58.56	$121,800
36	Pharmacists	$58.52	$121,700
37	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$58.20	$121,100
38	Air Traffic Controllers	$57.82	$120,300
39	Computer Hardware Engineers	$57.52	$119,700
40	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$57.49	$119,600
41	Optometrists	$57.26	$119,100
42	Training and Development Managers	$56.58	$117,700
43	Aerospace Engineers	$55.43	$115,300
44	Actuaries	$55.21	$114,900
45	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	N/A	$114,800
46	Managers, All Other	$54.41	$113,200
47	Economists	$54.16	$112,700
48	Chemical Engineers	$54.05	$112,400
49	Software Developers, Systems Software	$53.74	$111,800
50	Medical and Health Services Managers	$53.69	$111,700

Source: BLS