43% of these careers already have a full profile page; the rest publish with the next tranche and show the same bank data here in the meantime.
The 30 Highest-Paying Jobs in America (2026)
Pediatric Surgeon tops this list at $559,030 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with +1.5% projected employment change over 2024–2034. Below are 30 careers that meet the criteria, each with its real median wage, outlook and entry requirement.
Every occupation in the bank ranked by national median annual wage, with projected growth, annual openings and typical entry requirement beside each one. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is what usually ranks for this question, reports physician pay as a median "equal to or greater than $239,200 per year" and says the differences in pay between physician specialties are not available. That ceiling is a publication rule rather than a measurement: OEWS withholds any wage at or above $239,200 a year and prints "#" in its place. In the OEWS May 2025 national file no wage field is withheld, so this list gives the exact median BLS measured for each occupation, including the specialties the Handbook folds into "$239,200 or more". The ceiling still applies to 86 state wage rows across 19 occupations, which are shown as "$239,200+" on the salary-by-state pages and are never used to rank anything here.
- Careers on this list
- 30
- Median pay on the list
- $261,245
- Projected to grow
- 30 of 30
- Openings a year
- 253,700
From 923 in the bank
BLS OEWS, May 2025
BLS EP, 2024–2034
Combined, BLS EP
How we built this list
- Every occupation in the bank with a published national median wage, ranked by that median.
- Wages come from the BLS OEWS microdata release rather than the Occupational Outlook Handbook summary. That matters here: the Handbook reports physician pay as a median "equal to or greater than $239,200 per year" and says the differences between specialties are not available, so a list built from it cannot separate the top of this table at all.
- BLS publishes one wage per occupation code, and several O*NET job titles can share a code. Only one title per code is listed, so the same wage does not appear over and over.
- Occupations with no BLS wage or projection data are excluded rather than estimated.
- The list is regenerated from source data on every bank refresh. It is not hand-picked and no editorial ranking is applied.
The top 30 highest-paying jobs
1. Pediatric Surgeon
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $559,030
- Growth
- +1.5%
- Openings / yr
- 0
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and perform surgery to treat fetal abnormalities and birth defects, diseases, and injuries in fetuses, premature and newborn infants, children, and adolescents.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
2. Cardiologist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $496,010
- Growth
- +4.1%
- Openings / yr
- 600
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, manage, and prevent diseases or conditions of the cardiovascular system.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $420,860
- Growth
- +2.7%
- Openings / yr
- 800
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $391,490
- Growth
- +3.2%
- Openings / yr
- 1,300
- Education
- Doctorate
Administer anesthetics and analgesics for pain management prior to, during, or after surgery.
5. Orthopedic Surgeon, Except Pediatric
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $358,550
- Growth
- +4.1%
- Openings / yr
- 400
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and prevent rheumatic and other diseases in the musculoskeletal system.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
6. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $352,220
- Growth
- +4.1%
- Openings / yr
- 200
- Education
- Doctorate
Perform surgery and related procedures on the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial regions to treat diseases, injuries, or defects.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
7. Emergency Medicine Physician
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $335,550
- Growth
- +2.7%
- Openings / yr
- 1,000
- Education
- Doctorate
Make immediate medical decisions and act to prevent death or further disability.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $328,730
- Growth
- +6.4%
- Openings / yr
- 400
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and treat diseases relating to the skin, hair, and nails.
9. Pathologist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $312,400
- Growth
- +4.2%
- Openings / yr
- 400
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose diseases and conduct lab tests using organs, body tissues, and fluids.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
10. Prosthodontist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $311,180
- Growth
- +4.5%
- Openings / yr
- 0
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, rehabilitate, design, and fit prostheses that maintain oral function, health, and appearance for patients with clinical conditions associated with teeth, oral and maxillofacial tissues, or the jaw.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
11. Ophthalmologist, Except Pediatric
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $300,080
- Growth
- +4.3%
- Openings / yr
- 300
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and help prevent disorders and diseases of the eye.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
12. Obstetrician and Gynecologist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $292,910
- Growth
- +1.2%
- Openings / yr
- 600
- Education
- Doctorate
Provide medical care related to pregnancy or childbirth.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
13. Orthodontist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $289,140
- Growth
- +4.4%
- Openings / yr
- 200
- Education
- Doctorate
Examine, diagnose, and treat dental malocclusions and oral cavity anomalies.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $281,870
- Growth
- +6.1%
- Openings / yr
- 900
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, and help prevent mental disorders.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $265,930
- Growth
- +2.5%
- Openings / yr
- 9,600
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, and help prevent allergic diseases and disease processes affecting the immune system.
16. General Internal Medicine Physician
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $256,560
- Growth
- +3.3%
- Openings / yr
- 2,100
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose and provide nonsurgical treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
17. Neurologist
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $248,560
- Growth
- +5.4%
- Openings / yr
- 300
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
18. Family Medicine Physician
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $244,180
- Growth
- +2.7%
- Openings / yr
- 3,300
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, and provide preventive care to individuals and families across the lifespan.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $236,590
- Growth
- +8.6%
- Openings / yr
- 2,700
- Education
- Master's
Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia.
20. Airline Pilot
Transportation and Material Moving
- Median pay
- $232,140
- Growth
- +3.9%
- Openings / yr
- 11,700
- Education
- Bachelor's
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Management
- Median pay
- $213,990
- Growth
- +4.3%
- Openings / yr
- 22,200
- Education
- Bachelor's
Determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $210,040
- Growth
- +0.8%
- Openings / yr
- 1,200
- Education
- Doctorate
Diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases and injuries in children.
23. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
- Median pay
- $193,950
- Growth
- +6.3%
- Openings / yr
- 400
- Education
- Master's
Apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales, and marketing problems.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Management
- Median pay
- $175,140
- Growth
- +15.2%
- Openings / yr
- 55,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming.
25. Physicist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
- Median pay
- $172,250
- Growth
- +4.0%
- Openings / yr
- 1,700
- Education
- Doctorate
Conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
- Median pay
- $171,270
- Growth
- +3.8%
- Openings / yr
- 14,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as architecture and engineering or research and development in these fields.
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Median pay
- $170,950
- Growth
- +4.1%
- Openings / yr
- 3,900
- Education
- Doctorate
Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums.
28. Natural Sciences Manager
Management
- Median pay
- $167,220
- Growth
- +3.7%
- Openings / yr
- 8,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, and research and development in these fields.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Management
- Median pay
- $166,790
- Growth
- +6.6%
- Openings / yr
- 34,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers.
Management
- Median pay
- $166,570
- Growth
- +14.8%
- Openings / yr
- 74,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.
Highest-Paying Jobs: FAQ
What is the top career on the highest-paying jobs list?
Pediatric Surgeon leads the list with a median wage of $559,030 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025) and projected employment change of +1.5% over 2024–2034. Typical entry-level education is doctorate.
How was this list put together?
Every occupation in the bank ranked by national median annual wage, with projected growth, annual openings and typical entry requirement beside each one. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is what usually ranks for this question, reports physician pay as a median "equal to or greater than $239,200 per year" and says the differences in pay between physician specialties are not available. That ceiling is a publication rule rather than a measurement: OEWS withholds any wage at or above $239,200 a year and prints "#" in its place. In the OEWS May 2025 national file no wage field is withheld, so this list gives the exact median BLS measured for each occupation, including the specialties the Handbook folds into "$239,200 or more". The ceiling still applies to 86 state wage rows across 19 occupations, which are shown as "$239,200+" on the salary-by-state pages and are never used to rank anything here. Every occupation in the bank with a published national median wage, ranked by that median. Wages come from the BLS OEWS microdata release rather than the Occupational Outlook Handbook summary. That matters here: the Handbook reports physician pay as a median "equal to or greater than $239,200 per year" and says the differences between specialties are not available, so a list built from it cannot separate the top of this table at all. BLS publishes one wage per occupation code, and several O*NET job titles can share a code. Only one title per code is listed, so the same wage does not appear over and over. Every figure comes from BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET 30.3 Database.
How much do highest-paying jobs pay?
Across the 30 careers on this list the middle occupation pays $261,245 a year, from $166,570 at the bottom to $559,030 at the top (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The median across all US occupations is $50,980.
How many of these careers can you enter without a degree?
None. BLS lists an associate's degree or higher as the typical entry requirement for all 30 careers on this list.