What US jobs pay, and how to get them
Official pay for 150 careers in every state and major metro, adjusted for cost of living, with step-by-step guides to the training, exams and licenses each one takes. Built on BLS OEWS, May 2025 data and checked against its sources.
- US median salary
- $50,980
- $24.51 an hour, all jobs
- US mean salary
- $69,770
- Pulled up by top earners
- Jobs counted
- 155,495,730
- Wage and salary jobs, May 2025
- Projected job growth
- 3.5%
- All occupations, 2025–35
Most-searched careers
All 150 careers- Radiology Technician$80,110
- Ultrasound Technician$96,590
- CRNA$236,590
- Software Engineer$135,980
- Registered Nurse$97,550
- Electrician$63,190
- Dental Hygienist$98,100
- Anesthesiologist$391,490
- Cybersecurity Analyst$129,180
- Physician Assistant$135,880
- Physical Therapist$102,760
- Lawyer$159,670
- Flight Attendant$63,580
- Nurse Practitioner$132,300
- Accountant$83,680
- Firefighter$59,280
- Surgical Technician$64,650
- Pharmacy Technician$45,750
- Medical Billing and Coding Specialist$51,140
- Real Estate Agent$52,830
- Phlebotomist$45,230
- Pharmacist$140,910
- Dentist$170,950
- Medical Assistant$45,690
Highest-paying jobs
Top 50- 1. Cardiologists $496,010
- 2. Radiologists $420,860
- 3. Anesthesiologists $391,490
- 4. Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric $358,550
- 5. Emergency Medicine Physicians $335,550
- 6. Dermatologists $328,730
- 7. Physicians, Pathologists $312,400
- 8. Obstetricians and Gynecologists $292,910
- 9. Psychiatrists $281,870
- 10. General Internal Medicine Physicians $256,560
Best-paid without a degree
- 1. Commercial Pilots $123,220
- 2. Nuclear Power Reactor Operators $122,890
- 3. Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers $109,910
- 4. Ship Engineers $109,530
- 5. Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers $107,230
- 6. Power Distributors and Dispatchers $106,730
40 highest-paying jobs without a degree · trade jobs · healthcare jobs
Pay by state
Average salary by stateHighest median wage
- 1. District of Columbia $91,540
- 2. Massachusetts $63,590
- 3. Washington $62,990
- 4. Alaska $61,000
- 5. Colorado $59,800
- 6. Connecticut $59,690
- 7. New York $59,670
- 8. Maryland $59,510
Highest after cost of living
- 1. District of Columbia $83,293
- 2. Massachusetts $60,128
- 3. Alaska $59,594
- 4. North Dakota $58,993
- 5. Washington $58,862
Hourly to salary
$10 to $100 an hour- $15 an hour$31,200 a year
- $18 an hour$37,440 a year
- $20 an hour$41,600 a year
- $22 an hour$45,760 a year
- $25 an hour$52,000 a year
- $30 an hour$62,400 a year
- $35 an hour$72,800 a year
- $40 an hour$83,200 a year
- $50 an hour$104,000 a year
- $75 an hour$156,000 a year
Each rate shows monthly and biweekly pay, part-time and overtime, take-home after 2026 tax in every state and the jobs that pay about that much. For any other figure, use the salary calculator; to weigh training cost against pay, the career ROI tool.
Where the numbers come from
Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, built from about 1.1 million workplaces sampled over three years. It covers wage and salary workers, not the self-employed, and reports percentiles, so you see the full range, not one average.
Outlook and typical education come from BLS Employment Projections (2025–35); job tasks from O*NET; training costs from the Department of Education's College Scorecard; cost of living from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. How-to-become guides cite the exam bodies, accreditors and licensing boards they rely on.
Salary sites often disagree by tens of thousands of dollars because they measure different things: job ads, self-reported pay or models. Why salary sites disagree explains the differences.
Read the methodology, the full source list and our editorial policy. Not affiliated with the Bureau of Labor Statistics or any government agency.