What Are The 20 Top Paying Jobs In The US?

When your mother said that you should marry a doctor, she wasn't wrong.

The latest statistics of the highest median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has the medical profession in its top seven slots:

1. Psychiatrists: Equal or greater than $208,000

2. Obstetricians and gynecologists: Equal or greater than $208,000

3. Surgeons, except ophthalmologists: Equal or greater than $208,000

4. General internal medicine physicians: Equal or greater than $208,000

5. Anesthesiologists: Equal or greater than $208,000

6. Physicians: All other; and ophthalmologists, except pediatric: Equal or greater than $208,000

7. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons: Equal or greater than $208,000

After that it is a mixed bag:

8. Orthodontists: Equal or greater than $208,000

9. Prosthodontists: Equal or greater than $208,000

10. Family medicine physicians: $207,380

11. Chief executives: $185,950

12. Nurse anesthetists: $183,580

13. Dentists, all other specialists: $183,300

14. Pediatricians, general: $177,130

15. Airline pilots, co-pilots and flight engineers: $160,970

16. Dentists, general: $158,940

17. Computer and information systems managers: $151,150

18. Architectural and engineering managers: $149,530

19. Marketing managers: $142,170

20. Judges, magistrate judges and magistrates: $141,080

(The list was last updated by the bureau Sept. 8, 2021)

While physicians at No. 1 looks good, it was noted by the bureau, "Overall employment of physicians and surgeons is projected to grow 3% from 2020 to 2030, slower than the average for all occupations."

Education costs for a physician are significant. In addition to whatever it costs to receive an undergraduate degree, according to TheMDJourney, for 2019/2020, a public, in-state medical school average cost would be $37,556 a year; public, out-of-state, $61,858 a year; and private, $62,230 a year. (The table includes the cost of tuition, fees and health insurance.)

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 73% of students graduate with debt, the average four-year cost for public school medical students is $250,222. For private school medical students, the cost is $330,180. 

So while physicians are well paid, they also have a lot of student debt to pay off.

Now, of course, the one that catches most people’s eyes is the chief executive pay. Remember, it is base pay across the U.S. and in a number of industries, not just financial or publicly traded companies where salaries can head up to the multimillion-dollar range even without bonuses or stock options.

And, according to Economic Policy Institute, since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,322%, 351 times as much as a typical worker in 2020.

The institute continued, “… a CEO at one of the top 350 firms in the U.S. was paid $24.2 million on average (using a 'realized' measure of CEO pay that counts stock awards when vested and stock options when cashed in rather than when granted).

"This 18.9% increase from 2019 occurred because of rapid growth in vested stock awards and exercised stock options. Using a different 'granted' measure of CEO pay, average top CEO compensation was $13.9 million in 2020, slightly below its level in 2019."

It’s good to be a CEO.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.