Top-paying jobs
Anesthesiologists take home a median $292,000 salary annually. What other great careers from Money and PayScale.com's list of Best Jobs in America offer big paychecks?
6. Actuary
Best Jobs rank: N.A.
Median salary: $129,000
Top pay: $257,000
Companies know that it's worth paying a hefty salary to keep a competent actuary on staff: A major error in an actuarial task like pricing a product or securing cash reserves could mean lights out for the entire firm. The salary also takes into account hefty education requirements: To become fully knighted as an actuary, professionals must go beyond an undergraduate degree to complete an additional 10 years of study and exams.NEXT: Finance Director
Last updated November 27 2009: 12:12 PM ET
Note: We looked at jobs from the top 100 with the highest top pay. When there were multiple job titles from the same category, we selected the job with the most familiar job title. Median salary is for an experienced worker (at least two to seven years in field). Top pay represents the 90th percentile.
