Best Jobs in America

CNNMoney/PayScale's top 100 careers with big growth, great pay and satisfying work.

27. Optometrist
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Optometrist
27
Median pay: $108,000
Top pay: $152,000
10-year job growth: 33.1%
Total jobs*: 34,200

What they do all day? Optometrists make sure your eyes are healthy -- performing vision tests, prescribing eyeglasses or contacts, diagnosing and treating eye problems, even performing Lasik and other surgery to try and get you to 20/20 eyesight.

How to get the job?

What's great? What's not? --J.A.

What they do all day? Optometrists make sure your eyes are healthy -- performing vision tests, prescribing eyeglasses or contacts, diagnosing and treating eye problems, even performing Lasik and other surgery to try and get you to 20/20 eyesight. --J.A.

Quality of life ratings:
  • Personal satisfaction: A
  • Benefit to society: A
  • Flexibility: C
  • Low stress: A
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*Total jobs is estimated number of people working in broader BLS 'job family.'

Sources: PayScale.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CNNMoney research

Do Optometrists have great jobs, or what? Are these great jobs, or what?
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How we picked the best jobs
It's still a tough job market, so when CNNMoney, in partnership with data from PayScale.com, set out to find America's Best Jobs this year, first and foremost we looked for professions that offer great growth opportunities.

Other big factors: pay (how strong it is now, and how fast it's growing), overall job satisfaction, and how many jobs are in the field overall.
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