Pay Leaderboard · June 25, 2026

The highest-paying occupations in America

Ranked by the national median annual wage — the employment-weighted middle of every state estimate for each role in the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics release for May 2025. Half of workers in each occupation earn more than the figure shown, half earn less.

By Adrian SerafinFounderUpdated June 25, 2026

#	Occupation	National median	Workers (US)
1	Cardiologists	$483,238	11,930
2	Radiologists	$393,413	14,020
3	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric	$384,297	8,790
4	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$294,133	86,860
5	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$261,198	64,790
6	Physicians, All Other	$259,686	340,160
7	Chief Executives	$225,704	145,980
8	Pediatricians, General	$208,190	38,120
9	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$182,802	670,540
10	Dentists, General	$175,358	121,230
11	Financial Managers	$166,749	841,710
12	Physicists	$166,554	20,040
13	Marketing Managers	$163,773	389,820
14	Lawyers	$159,328	754,500
15	Computer Hardware Engineers	$158,833	66,950
16	Petroleum Engineers	$155,457	16,330
17	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$150,180	21,540
18	Public Relations Managers	$149,633	72,380
19	Human Resources Managers	$149,469	220,670
20	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$148,855	22,370
21	Purchasing Managers	$148,047	84,150
22	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$147,005	35,760
23	Sales Managers	$146,653	623,030
24	Pharmacists	$143,112	321,960
25	Database Architects	$143,023	63,570
26	Software Developers	$142,991	1,687,370
27	Managers, All Other	$142,695	620,130
28	Physician Assistants	$140,258	162,150
29	Nuclear Engineers	$140,229	8,550
30	Aerospace Engineers	$139,645	66,570

How this is calculated

BLS publishes a median wage for each occupation in each state. We combine those into a single national figure by weighting each state by how many people it employs in that role, which matches the per-occupation pages elsewhere on RateOrchard. Occupations with very small national employment are excluded to keep the ranking stable.

Figures are gross pay before tax and exclude bonuses, equity, and overtime. Information, not advice.