Health care dominates highest-paying jobs in America

Health care is where the money is.

The nine highest-paying jobs in America are all in the fields of medicine, dentistry or psychiatry, according to an On Numbers analysis of newly released compensation data for 816 occupations.

Anesthesiologists top the list with average annual pay of $232,830 as of 2012, the latest year for which official figures are available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).


ON NUMBERS STUDY: THE JOBS THAT PAY THE MOST


These are the nation’s nine leading occupations in terms of average annual compensation:

  1. Anesthesiologists, $232,830
  2. Surgeons, $230,540
  3. Obstetricians and gynecologists, $216,760
  4. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons, $216,440
  5. General internists, $191,520
  6. Orthodontists, $186,320
  7. All other physicians and surgeons, $184,820
  8. Family and general practitioners, $180,850
  9. Psychiatrists, $177,520

The highest-rated occupation outside of health care is chief executives, who rank 10th overall with average annual pay of $176,840.

BLS subdivides the workforce into 22 broad sectors. Sectors, in turn, are split into differing numbers of occupational groups, each of which has a distinct six-digit code. Click here to see definitions and descriptions of all occupations, along with additional national data.

On Numbers analyzed 2012 earnings for full-time employees in all occupations across the nation, using data collected by BLS through a comprehensive survey of employers. The study generated separate rankings of the highest-paying jobs in the nation as a whole and in 104 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 500,000.

Surgeons are the highest-paid workers in 37 of the 104 major markets, followed by general internists (tops in 13 markets), all other physicians and surgeons (13), obstetricians and gynecologists (12) and anesthesiologists (10).

Two Connecticut metros — Bridgeport-Stamford and New Haven — are the only places where the highest-paid workers are not in the field of health care. Chief executives are No. 1 in the local salary rankings for those two areas.

Average salaries for all workers exceed $60,000 in four major metros. Atop the list is San Jose, where average annual pay for all employees in all lines of work is $69,670. The runners-up are Washington ($63,750), San Francisco-Oakland ($62,680) and Bridgeport-Stamford ($60,720).

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