--- title: "Fun Jobs That Pay Well" description: "Careers whose main subject is something people tend to love (sports, music, film, games, travel, food, animals, fashion, the outdoors and adventure) and…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/fun-jobs-that-pay-well" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Fun Jobs That Pay Well Careers whose main subject is something people tend to love (sports, music, film, games, travel, food, animals, fashion, the outdoors and adventure) and whose national median pay is above the median for all US workers. Ranked by median pay from BLS OEWS; specialty careers show the figures of the occupation BLS reports them under. 48 occupations, in the ranked order the career bank computed. Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth figures are BLS Employment Projections and education is the BLS "typical education needed for entry". | # | Occupation | Median annual wage | Projected growth | Typical education | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | [Airline Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/airline-pilot) | $232,140 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 2 | [Widebody Airline Captain](https://nuecareer.com/careers/widebody-airline-captain) | $232,140 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 3 | [Chief Marketing Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chief-marketing-officer) | $166,790 | +6.9% | Bachelor's | | 4 | [Air Traffic Controller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/air-traffic-controller) | $148,080 | +1.7% | Associate's | | 5 | [Veterinary Pharmacist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-pharmacist) | $140,910 | +5.2% | Doctorate | | 6 | [Aerospace Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aerospace-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 7 | [Astrodynamics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/astrodynamics-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 8 | [Astronaut](https://nuecareer.com/careers/astronaut) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Master's | | 9 | [Flight Test Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/flight-test-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 10 | [Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/guidance-navigation-and-control-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 11 | [Launch Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/launch-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 12 | [Rocket Propulsion Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rocket-propulsion-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 13 | [Spacecraft Flight Controller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/spacecraft-flight-controller) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 14 | [Spacecraft Systems Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/spacecraft-systems-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 15 | [Spacecraft Thermal Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/spacecraft-thermal-engineer) | $134,960 | +8.3% | Bachelor's | | 16 | [Media Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/media-director) | $133,660 | -3.7% | Bachelor's | | 17 | [Satellite Communications Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/satellite-communications-engineer) | $130,220 | +3.7% | Bachelor's | | 18 | [Laboratory Animal Veterinarian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laboratory-animal-veterinarian) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 19 | [Veterinarian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinarian) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 20 | [Veterinary Anesthesiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-anesthesiologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 21 | [Veterinary Behaviorist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-behaviorist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 22 | [Veterinary Criticalist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-criticalist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 23 | [Veterinary Dentist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-dentist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 24 | [Veterinary Dermatologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-dermatologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 25 | [Veterinary Oncologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-oncologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 26 | [Veterinary Ophthalmologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-ophthalmologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 27 | [Veterinary Pathologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-pathologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 28 | [Veterinary Radiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-radiologist) | $130,100 | +9.4% | Doctorate | | 29 | [Astronomer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/astronomer) | $128,820 | +7.8% | Doctorate | | 30 | [Mine Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mine-manager) | $126,060 | +2.6% | Bachelor's | | 31 | [Commercial Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Certificate | | 32 | [Corporate Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/corporate-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Certificate | | 33 | [eVTOL Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/evtol-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Certificate | | 34 | [Flight Inspection Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/flight-inspection-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Certificate | | 35 | [Fractional Jet Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fractional-jet-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Certificate | | 36 | [Test Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/test-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.2% | Bachelor's | | 37 | [Art Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-director) | $114,850 | +4.2% | Bachelor's | | 38 | [Production Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/production-designer) | $114,850 | +4.2% | Bachelor's | | 39 | [Marine Engineer and Naval Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/marine-engineer-and-naval-architect) | $112,230 | +6.7% | Bachelor's | | 40 | [Ocean Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ocean-engineer) | $112,230 | +6.7% | Bachelor's | | 41 | [Ship Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ship-engineer) | $109,530 | +2.7% | Certificate | | 42 | [Drill and Blast Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/drill-and-blast-engineer) | $106,220 | +3.8% | Bachelor's | | 43 | [Private Club General Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/private-club-general-manager) | $105,770 | +5.0% | Bachelor's | | 44 | [Sales Representative, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Product](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sales-representative-wholesale-and-manufacturing-technical-and-scientific-product) | $104,920 | +1.2% | Bachelor's | | 45 | [College Athletic Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/college-athletic-director) | $104,590 | +1.8% | Master's | | 46 | [Acoustical Consultant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/acoustical-consultant) | $104,110 | +11.2% | Bachelor's | | 47 | [Amusement Ride Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/amusement-ride-engineer) | $104,110 | +11.2% | Bachelor's | | 48 | [Sports Equipment Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sports-equipment-engineer) | $104,110 | +11.2% | Bachelor's | Full record for any row, including wage percentiles and state-level pay: https://nuecareer.com/careers/{slug} or https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/{slug}. --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/collections/fun-jobs-that-pay-well