Median Salary
Rank Job title Best Jobs rank Median salary*
1 Anesthesiologist 11 $292,000
2 Physician/Ob-Gyn1 22 $222,000
3 Psychiatrist 24 $177,000
4 Nurse Anesthetist 15 $157,000
5 Sales Director2 10 $140,000
6 Actuary N.A. $129,000
7 Finance Director 29 $121,000
8 Software Architect3 N.A. $117,000
9 Attorney/Lawyer 18 $115,000
10 Insurance Broker N.A. $114,000
From the November 2009 issue
Notes: All pay data from PayScale.com.
Methodology: We looked at jobs from the top 100 with the highest median salaries. 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.
1 Other highly paid M.D. positions include Emergency Room Physician, General Practitioner and General Surgeon.
2 Other highly paid positions in this field include Product Management Director.
3 Other highly paid positions in this field include Software Development Director and Business Management Software Consultant.
Quick Vote
What do you think is the most important quality in a job?
  • Satisfying work
  • Good pay and benefits
  • Flexible hours
  • Growth opportunities
Video
  • NEXT
    America's best job
    Systems engineers manage large projects and are in big demand, according to Money's 2009 list. Some, like Anne O'Neil, make the trains run. Watch
How we picked the Best Jobs
MONEY and compensation experts PayScale.com started with more than 7,000 jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will grow 10% or more over the next decade and that require at least a bachelor's degree. 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.