--- title: "Highest-Paying Jobs Without a Degree" description: "Occupations whose typical entry requirement is a high school diploma, postsecondary certificate, or less, ranked by national median wage." canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/highest-paying-without-a-degree" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Highest-Paying Jobs Without a Degree Occupations whose typical entry requirement is a high school diploma, postsecondary certificate, or less, 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 | [Commercial Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-pilot) | $123,220 | +5.1% | Certificate | | 2 | [Nuclear Power Reactor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nuclear-power-reactor-operator) | $122,890 | -15.3% | High school | | 3 | [Elevator Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elevator-installer) | $109,910 | +5.0% | High school | | 4 | [Ship Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ship-engineer) | $109,530 | +1.6% | Certificate | | 5 | [Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-storage-and-distribution-manager) | $107,230 | +6.1% | High school | | 6 | [Supply Chain Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/supply-chain-manager) | $107,230 | +6.1% | High school | | 7 | [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) | $106,730 | -3.2% | High school | | 8 | [First-Line Supervisor of Police and Detectives](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-police-and-detectives) | $106,040 | +2.9% | High school | | 9 | [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 | | 10 | [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school | | 11 | [Biomass Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biomass-plant-technician) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school | | 12 | [Hydroelectric Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician) | $102,040 | -11.2% | High school | | 13 | [Makeup Artist, Theatrical and Performance](https://nuecareer.com/careers/makeup-artist-theatrical-and-performance) | $97,150 | +8.1% | Certificate | | 14 | [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 | | 15 | [Postmaster](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postmaster) | $96,660 | -3.5% | High school | | 16 | [Electrical Power-Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-power-line-installer-and-repairer) | $95,320 | +6.6% | High school | | 17 | [Detective and Criminal Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/detective-and-criminal-investigator) | $93,790 | -0.7% | High school | | 18 | [Police Identification and Records Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/police-identification-and-records-officer) | $93,790 | -0.7% | High school | | 19 | [Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/intelligence-analyst) | $93,790 | -0.7% | High school | | 20 | [First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-firefighting-and-prevention-workers) | $93,530 | +3.4% | Certificate | | 21 | [Gambling Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gambling-manager) | $93,220 | +1.2% | High school | | 22 | [Signal and Track Switch Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/signal-and-track-switch-repairer) | $92,460 | +1.7% | High school | | 23 | [Captain, Mate, and Pilot of Water Vessels](https://nuecareer.com/careers/captain-mate-and-pilot-of-water-vessels) | $92,460 | +0.5% | Certificate | | 24 | [Transportation Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-inspector) | $92,100 | +1.7% | High school | | 25 | [Aviation Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aviation-inspector) | $92,100 | +1.7% | High school | | 26 | [Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspector, Except Aviation](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-vehicle-equipment-and-systems-inspector) | $92,100 | +1.7% | High school | | 27 | [Transit and Railroad Police](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transit-and-railroad-police) | $90,230 | +3.0% | High school | | 28 | [Farmer or Agricultural Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmer-or-agricultural-manager) | $89,900 | -1.3% | High school | | 29 | [Gas Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gas-plant-operator) | $87,820 | -8.8% | High school | | 30 | [First-Line Supervisor of Non-Retail Sales Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-non-retail-sales-workers) | $87,520 | 0.0% | High school | 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-without-a-degree