Best jobs for fast growth

2 of 20
BACK NEXT
2. Physical Therapist

best jobs, fast growing, physical therapist
Median pay: $75,900
Top pay: $97,800
10-year job growth: 30%
Total jobs: 190,000
The job: Health care is a booming field, and the demand for physical therapists is increasing apace. You'll need to go back to school to learn the techniques for increasing patient mobility and decreasing pain, but the two- to three-year graduate program is still far shorter than the time it takes to become a doctor. You can do a nursing degree in that time, but pay and satisfaction are better for PTs.

How to switch: You'll need a master's or the increasingly common three-year doctorate. Learn more at apta.org.

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction Benefit to society Low stress Flexibility
A A C B

By Jessica Dickler, Anne C. Lee and Greg Swiatek

Subscribe to Money Magazine
Do Physical Therapists have great jobs, or what?
From the November 2011 issue
Notes: All pay data from PayScale.com. Median pay is for an experienced worker (at least two to seven years in the field). Top pay represents the 90th percentile. Job growth is estimated for 2008-18. Total current employment level is estimated number of people working in each specific job.

Sources: PayScale.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and MONEY research
Video
How we picked the Best Jobs
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts for 7,000 titles, MONEY and compensation experts PayScale.com identified jobs requiring a bachelor's degree that have strong growth prospects, and eliminated any with fewer than 10,000 positions nationwide, plus those requiring advanced degrees that take more than three years. More

Comments? E-mail the editors
Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.