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Median pay: $65,800 Top pay: $90,300 10-year job growth: 26.0% Total jobs*: 2,737,400
What they do all day?
Becoming an RN can be very stressful and entail long hours, but the work can be quite rewarding. In hospitals, nurses care for people who are sick or injured by administering shots, IVs and catheters, dispensing medications and performing other tasks. Nurses also work in doctors' offices where they help patients fight and prevent illnesses and disease by assessing their health and maintaining records.
--J.A.
Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction
Low stress
Benefit to society
Flexibility
B
D
A
C
Published: October 29, 2012
Notes: All pay data from PayScale.com. Median pay is for an experienced worker (at least five or seven years in the field). Top pay represents the 90th percentile. Job growth is estimated for 2010-20, and based on people working in broader 'job family' from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
*Total jobs is estimated number of people working in broader BLS 'job family.'
Sources:PayScale.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CNNMoney research
It's still a tough job market out there, so when CNNMoney and PayScale.com set out to find America's Best Jobs this year, first and foremost we looked for professions that offer great growth opportunities.
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