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Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Careers · refreshed quarterly
Top 49 Highest-Paying Careers
What the role actually costs to enter, weighed against what it pays
Pay figures below are indicative national medians rounded for readability, not a guarantee of what any individual will earn — actual compensation varies substantially by region, employer, experience and negotiation, and this ranking is informational rather than a promise about any specific outcome. What distinguishes this list from a simple salary sort is the entry cost: several of the highest-paying roles here require a decade or more of unpaid or low-paid training before the compensation shown is ever reached, which matters enormously to anyone actually deciding on a path. Growth outlook draws on publicly reported occupational projections and is shown as a general trend, not a personal forecast.
20Entries ranked
292KReader votes
1 Jul 2026Data as of
The top three
Leading the list
Rank 01Editor’s pick
Surgeon
Surgical medicine
Surgeons carry the longest and most expensive training path on this list — four years of medical school followed by five to seven years of residency before independent practice — and the pay reflects both that entry cost and the direct liability of the work.
96.8/100 Top 49 score—No changeRank 02Editor’s pick
Anesthesiologist
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiologists carry direct, moment-to-moment responsibility for a patient’s vital functions during surgery, and the licensing and residency requirements are correspondingly rigorous even by medical-specialty standards.
95.9/100 Top 49 score1Down 1Rank 03Editor’s pick
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Dental & oral surgery
This specialty requires both a dental degree and, frequently, additional medical training, a dual-credential path that is one of the more unusual and demanding combinations in healthcare.
93.6/100 Top 49 score4Up 4
Full ranking
All 20 ranked
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Showing 1–12 of 20 ranked entries.
- Rank 1. Surgeon. Score 96.8 out of 100.—No change
Surgeon
Surgical medicine
Surgeons carry the longest and most expensive training path on this list — four years of medical school followed by five to seven years of residency before independent practice — and the pay reflects both that entry cost and the direct liability of the work.
- Median pay
- $350,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 3%
96.8/100 Top 49 scoreThe longest combined training timeline of any occupation on this list, at ten to thirteen years post-undergraduate.
- Rank 2. Anesthesiologist. Score 95.9 out of 100.1Down 1
Anesthesiologist
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiologists carry direct, moment-to-moment responsibility for a patient’s vital functions during surgery, and the licensing and residency requirements are correspondingly rigorous even by medical-specialty standards.
- Median pay
- $331,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 3%
95.9/100 Top 49 score - Rank 3. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon. Score 93.6 out of 100.4Up 4
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Dental & oral surgery
This specialty requires both a dental degree and, frequently, additional medical training, a dual-credential path that is one of the more unusual and demanding combinations in healthcare.
- Median pay
- $311,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 6%
93.6/100 Top 49 score - Rank 4. Orthodontist. Score 91.9 out of 100.1Down 1
Orthodontist
Dentistry
Orthodontics requires dental school followed by a competitive residency match, and private-practice ownership economics — not just clinical skill — drive a meaningful share of the income variation within the specialty.
- Median pay
- $267,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 5%
91.9/100 Top 49 score - Rank 5. Obstetrician and Gynecologist. Score 91.8 out of 100.NewNew entry
Obstetrician and Gynecologist
OB-GYN
OB-GYNs combine surgical training with primary-care-style ongoing patient relationships, and unpredictable delivery timing makes the on-call demands of this specialty distinct from most other high-paying medical fields.
- Median pay
- $239,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 7%
91.8/100 Top 49 score - Rank 6. Psychiatrist. Score 89.9 out of 100.3Down 3
Psychiatrist
Mental health medicine
Psychiatry has one of the more favourable growth outlooks in medicine as demand for mental-health care has risen sharply, and the specialty offers meaningfully more scheduling flexibility than most surgical fields.
- Median pay
- $226,000
- Typical education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 10-yr growth
- 9%
89.9/100 Top 49 score - Rank 7. Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Score 88.7 out of 100.—No change
Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
Advanced practice nursing
CRNAs administer anesthesia with a shorter and less expensive training path than an anesthesiologist’s medical degree route, and the role carries one of the strongest projected growth rates of any occupation on this list.
- Median pay
- $212,000
- Typical education
- Master’s or Doctoral degree
- 10-yr growth
- 38%
88.7/100 Top 49 scoreThe strongest projected growth rate of any occupation on this list, on a training path shorter than the physician-track alternative.
- Rank 8. Chief Executive. Score 87.4 out of 100.—No change
Chief Executive
Executive leadership
Compensation for chief executives varies more than any other role on this list — a small-company CEO and a Fortune 500 CEO share a job title but almost nothing else structurally, including pay, risk and required experience.
- Median pay
- $206,000
- Typical education
- Bachelor’s degree (often supplemented by an MBA)
- 10-yr growth
- 6%
87.4/100 Top 49 score - Rank 9. Airline Pilot. Score 85.6 out of 100.3Down 3
Airline Pilot
Commercial aviation
Airline pilots require an expensive, hour-intensive path to certification — typically 1,500 flight hours before qualifying for an airline transport pilot certificate — a structural barrier to entry unlike almost any other role on this list.
- Median pay
- $203,000
- Typical education
- Bachelor’s degree plus FAA certification
- 10-yr growth
- 5%
85.6/100 Top 49 score - Rank 10. Investment Banking Associate. Score 84.9 out of 100.3Down 3
Investment Banking Associate
Corporate & investment banking
Base salary understates total compensation in this role more than almost any other on the list, since bonus pools tied to deal volume can substantially exceed base pay in strong years — and shrink sharply in weak ones.
- Median pay
- $190,000
- Typical education
- Bachelor’s degree (frequently supplemented by an MBA)
- 10-yr growth
- 8%
84.9/100 Top 49 score - Rank 11. IT and Computer Systems Manager. Score 84.3 out of 100.3Up 3
IT and Computer Systems Manager
Technology management
This role sits at the management layer above individual technical contributors, and the combination of technical fluency and people-management responsibility is reflected in pay that regularly exceeds senior engineering roles it oversees.
- Median pay
- $169,000
- Typical education
- Bachelor’s degree
- 10-yr growth
- 15%
84.3/100 Top 49 score - Rank 12. Software Engineering Manager. Score 81.6 out of 100.3Down 3
Software Engineering Manager
Technology management
Software engineering managers typically progress from senior individual-contributor roles, and the shift from writing code to managing the people who write it is a genuinely difficult transition many technically strong engineers find harder than expected.
- Median pay
- $165,000
- Typical education
- Bachelor’s degree
- 10-yr growth
- 15%
81.6/100 Top 49 score
How this list is scored
Four criteria, weighted before the first entry
Pay figures are indicative national medians, rounded for readability, and vary substantially by region, employer and experience; they should not be read as a guarantee for any individual.
- Compensation 30%
- Indicative median total compensation relative to other occupations in this ranking.
- Job security 25%
- Demand stability and resistance to cyclical layoffs based on historical patterns.
- Entry barrier 25%
- Time, cost and credentialing burden required before reaching typical compensation.
- Growth outlook 20%
- Projected long-term demand trend based on publicly reported occupational data.
Questions
About this ranking
Are these exact salary figures I should expect to earn?
No. They are indicative, rounded national medians meant for comparison, not a promise. Actual pay varies significantly by region, employer, years of experience and negotiation, and this list cannot account for any of those individual factors.
Why do some lower-paid roles rank close to much higher-paid ones?
Compensation is only 30% of the score. A role with a punishing decade-long entry cost can rank similarly to a better-paid one with a faster, cheaper path in, because entry barrier and growth outlook both carry real weight.
Does a high ranking mean this is a good career choice for me?
That depends entirely on your own interests, aptitude and circumstances, none of which this ranking can evaluate. Treat it as a structural comparison of pay and entry cost, not personal career advice.
Where does the growth-outlook figure come from?
It reflects publicly reported long-term occupational demand projections, shown as a general trend for the field rather than a forecast for any individual’s job prospects.
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Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.