---
title: "Jobs That Pay $40 an Hour"
description: "Occupations whose BLS median hourly wage is at least $40.00 and under $50.00, ranked by projected annual openings so the list leads with the work that…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/jobs-that-pay-40-an-hour"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Jobs That Pay $40 an Hour

Occupations whose BLS median hourly wage is at least $40.00 and under $50.00, ranked by projected annual openings so the list leads with the work that exists in volume at this rate. The hourly figure is the one BLS publishes in the OEWS release, not an annual salary divided by 2,080; occupations OEWS reports on an annual basis only, which is most teaching and airline flight-crew work, carry no hourly wage to test and are left off rather than converted. The band has an upper end so that each rate gets its own list rather than four copies of the same one; jobs paying above $50 an hour are on the higher lists.

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 | [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse) | $97,550 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 2 | [Accountant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/accountant) | $83,680 | +4.6% | Bachelor's |
| 3 | [Management Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/management-analyst) | $101,860 | +8.8% | Bachelor's |
| 4 | [Farmer or Agricultural Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmer-or-agricultural-manager) | $89,900 | -1.3% | High school |
| 5 | [Project Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/project-management-specialist) | $102,320 | +5.6% | Bachelor's |
| 6 | [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) | $102,440 | +11.0% | Bachelor's |
| 7 | [Financial and Investment Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-and-investment-analyst) | $102,740 | +5.7% | Bachelor's |
| 8 | [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 |
| 9 | [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) | $100,840 | +5.0% | Bachelor's |
| 10 | [Dental Hygienist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-hygienist) | $98,100 | +7.0% | Associate's |
| 11 | [Occupational Health and Safety Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-specialist) | $90,150 | +12.5% | Bachelor's |
| 12 | [Network and Computer Systems Administrator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/network-and-computer-systems-administrator) | $99,130 | -4.2% | Bachelor's |
| 13 | [Speech-Language Pathologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/speech-language-pathologist) | $97,870 | +15.0% | Master's |
| 14 | [Physical Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist) | $102,760 | +10.9% | Doctorate |
| 15 | [Producer and Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/producer-and-director) | $90,360 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 16 | [Electrical Power-Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-power-line-installer-and-repairer) | $95,320 | +6.6% | High school |
| 17 | [Occupational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapist) | $100,330 | +13.8% | Master's |
| 18 | [Medical Scientist, Except Epidemiologists](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-scientist) | $103,410 | +8.7% | Doctorate |
| 19 | [Operations Research Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operations-research-analyst) | $88,940 | +21.5% | Bachelor's |
| 20 | [Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/architect) | $99,280 | +3.9% | Bachelor's |
| 21 | [Detective and Criminal Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/detective-and-criminal-investigator) | $93,790 | -0.7% | High school |
| 22 | [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 |
| 23 | [Chemist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemist) | $91,240 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 24 | [Diagnostic Medical Sonographer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/diagnostic-medical-sonographer) | $96,590 | +13.0% | Associate's |
| 25 | [Financial Examiner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-examiner) | $94,160 | +18.5% | Bachelor's |
| 26 | [Computer Programmer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-programmer) | $100,390 | -6.0% | Bachelor's |
| 27 | [Web Developer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/web-developer) | $92,650 | +7.5% | Bachelor's |
| 28 | [Labor Relations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/labor-relations-specialist) | $95,420 | -0.1% | Bachelor's |
| 29 | [Special Effects Artist and Animator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-effects-artist-and-animator) | $102,030 | +1.6% | Bachelor's |
| 30 | [Clinical Psychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-psychologist) | $100,580 | +11.2% | Doctorate |

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/jobs-that-pay-40-an-hour