---
title: "Highest-Paying Trades"
description: "Skilled construction, installation, repair, production and transport occupations entered without a bachelor’s degree, ranked by national median wage."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/highest-paying-trades"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Highest-Paying Trades

Skilled construction, installation, repair, production and transport occupations entered without a bachelor’s degree, ranked by national median wage.

30 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 | [Nuclear Power Reactor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nuclear-power-reactor-operator) | $122,890 | -15.3% | High school |
| 2 | [Elevator Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elevator-installer) | $109,910 | +5.0% | High school |
| 3 | [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) | $106,730 | -3.2% | High school |
| 4 | [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-powerhouse-substation-and-relay) | $103,020 | +5.5% | Certificate |
| 5 | [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school |
| 6 | [Biomass Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biomass-plant-technician) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school |
| 7 | [Hydroelectric Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school |
| 8 | [Petroleum Pump System Operator, Refinery Operator, and Gauger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/petroleum-pump-system-operator-refinery-operator-and-gauger) | $96,710 | -2.8% | High school |
| 9 | [Electrical Power-Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-power-line-installer-and-repairer) | $95,320 | +6.6% | High school |
| 10 | [Signal and Track Switch Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/signal-and-track-switch-repairer) | $92,460 | +1.7% | High school |
| 11 | [Gas Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gas-plant-operator) | $87,820 | -8.8% | High school |
| 12 | [Electrical and Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-installer-and-repairer-transportation-equipment) | $84,890 | +6.1% | Certificate |
| 13 | [Avionics Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/avionics-technician) | $82,280 | +8.2% | Certificate |
| 14 | [First-Line Supervisor of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-construction-trades-and-extraction-workers) | $79,920 | +5.3% | High school |
| 15 | [Solar Energy Installation Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/solar-energy-installation-manager) | $79,920 | +5.3% | High school |
| 16 | [Aircraft Mechanic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-mechanic) | $79,870 | +4.0% | Certificate |
| 17 | [First-Line Supervisor of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-mechanics-installers-and-repairers) | $79,860 | +3.1% | High school |
| 18 | [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) | $78,620 | +2.2% | High school |
| 19 | [Roof Bolter, Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/roof-bolter-mining) | $78,540 | -34.2% | High school |
| 20 | [Chemical Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-plant-and-system-operator) | $78,120 | -6.1% | High school |
| 21 | [Boilermaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/boilermaker) | $76,410 | -2.4% | High school |
| 22 | [Terrazzo Worker and Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/terrazzo-worker-and-finisher) | $76,170 | -11.1% | High school |
| 23 | [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) | $74,690 | -0.8% | High school |
| 24 | [Energy Auditor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/energy-auditor) | $74,690 | -0.8% | High school |
| 25 | [First-Line Supervisor of Production and Operating Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-production-and-operating-workers) | $74,450 | +1.2% | High school |
| 26 | [Control and Valve Installer and Repairer, Except Mechanical Door](https://nuecareer.com/careers/control-and-valve-installer-and-repairer) | $74,340 | +1.3% | High school |
| 27 | [Telecommunications Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telecommunications-line-installer-and-repairer) | $74,330 | -3.1% | High school |
| 28 | [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) | $74,090 | -0.8% | Certificate |
| 29 | [Pile Driver Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pile-driver-operator) | $73,300 | +4.3% | High school |
| 30 | [Commercial Diver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-diver) | $72,990 | +8.5% | Certificate |

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 30.3 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/highest-paying-trades