SALARY DATA

Highest Paying Occupations in America — BLS 2024 Data

4 min read·BLS OES May 2024

According to BLS OES May 2024 data, the highest-paying occupations in the United States are concentrated in three sectors: healthcare, technology, and executive management. Physicians and surgeons top the list with a national median exceeding $229,300, followed by oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, and other dental specialists — all with medians above $160,000. The pattern is consistent: high barriers to entry through education and licensure translate directly into elevated wages.

Technology and Management

In technology, chief executives and top executives earn a national median of $189,520, while IT managers reach $169,510. Software developers — the largest tech occupation by headcount — earn a median of $127,260 nationally, with the 90th percentile exceeding $208,000 in states like Washington and California. Data scientists and machine learning engineers cluster around the $108,000–$130,000 range at the median, with steep upward trajectories in major tech hubs.

What Separates Top Earners

What separates the highest-paying roles isn’t just education — it’s leverage: over capital (executives), life-and-death decisions (physicians), or critical infrastructure (senior engineers). The fastest path to the top of the wage distribution within your field is usually specialization that’s difficult to automate or offshore, combined with experience in high-revenue industries. The BLS data shows that within any occupation, the gap between the 50th and 90th percentile is often 60–100% — meaning that reaching the top of your field pays far more than switching to a different field at the median.

Using the Data for Career Decisions

Use the salary calculator below to find your percentile within any of these occupations. The gap between the median and the 90th percentile in high-paying fields is especially wide — a top software engineer in Washington earns 63% more than the state median for that role. Getting to the top of your field compounds significantly over a 20-year career. Compare your current occupation to alternatives to see whether a field switch makes financial sense given your career stage.

BLS OES 2024 · 116 Occupations

Salary Percentile Calculator

See exactly where your salary ranks among US workers in your field and state.

Based on official BLS data for 116 occupations across all 50 US states.

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Frequently Asked Questions

A salary percentile tells you what percentage of workers in a given occupation earn less than you. For example, if you're at the 70th percentile, you earn more than 70% of workers in that field. It's a more useful benchmark than a simple average because it shows where you stand across the full distribution of wages.

We use linear interpolation between the BLS wage anchor points (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles) to estimate your exact percentile rank. State figures are derived by applying BLS regional wage indices to the national data. For salaries below the 10th or above the 90th percentile, we flag this clearly rather than extrapolating an unreliable estimate.

All data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) program, May 2024 release. This is the most comprehensive, official source of US occupational wage data, covering over 800 occupations and nearly every industry. We cover 116 occupation groups across all 50 states and Washington D.C.

If you're below the median (50th percentile) for your occupation in your state, you have a data-backed argument for a raise. Come prepared with your percentile result and the BLS benchmark figures from the table below the gauge. Framing your ask around official government data — rather than salary sites — is often more persuasive to employers and hiring managers.

According to BLS OES May 2024 data, the median annual wage across all occupations in the United States is approximately $49,500. However, this varies enormously by occupation — from around $30,000 for food preparation workers to over $236,000 for physicians and surgeons. That's why comparing within your specific occupation is far more meaningful than a national cross-occupation average.