Salary by Job 2026, What Every Major Occupation Pays

What does a typical job in the US pay? The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for all occupations at $50,980 in May 2025. That one number hides a huge spread. The same federal handbook puts the computer and information technology group at a median of $109,470 and the food preparation and serving group at a median of $35,050, so the occupation group you work in shapes your pay heavily. This guide walks through every major occupation group, what the jobs inside it pay, which jobs pay the most, how education changes the picture, and how to research and negotiate your own number. For Metaintro readers, it works as an index, so jump to your field and then follow the links to our detailed guides. All figures here are US data from federal sources.

What Is the Typical Salary Across All Jobs?

The cleanest starting point is the all-occupation median. Nearly every group page in the federal Occupational Outlook Handbook compares itself to the same benchmark, the median annual wage for all occupations of $50,980 in May 2025. Half of all workers in the survey earned more than that, and half earned less.

A median is a boundary, not an average. The wage survey behind these figures defines the median as the point where half of the workers in a given occupation earn more than the median wage, and half the workers earn less. That makes it more useful than an average for most job seekers, because a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward.

Our guide on how much professions really pay explains how to read medians, pay ranges and location differences before you compare yourself to any figure here.

Annual figures also assume steady, full-time work. The survey's annual wage estimates assume a full-time, year-round schedule of 2,080 hours, which matters if your job is seasonal, part-time or paid by the shift. If you are paid hourly, our guide on converting an hourly rate to an annual salary shows the exact formula and what it means for your next offer.

Before you compare yourself to any of these numbers, it helps to know what a fair benchmark looks like in the first place. Our guide on what counts as good pay explains how to judge a salary against your costs and your field.

How Do the Major Occupation Groups Compare on Pay?

The federal handbook splits the workforce into large occupation groups, and nearly every group page prints its own median. Several sit well above the all-occupation benchmark.

The computer and information technology group had a median of $109,470 in May 2025, with about 280,000 openings projected each year. The math occupations group came in at a median of $107,570, and the legal occupations group at a median of $102,500. The architecture and engineering group sat at a median of $99,520, with about 174,800 openings projected each year.

A second tier sits a little lower but still well above the benchmark. Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations had a median of $86,530, the business and financial group had a median of $82,660, and the life, physical and social science group had a median of $82,530. Media and communication workers had a median of $74,250, while media and communication equipment workers such as broadcast technicians, film and video editors, and photographers came in at $59,200 on the same page.

Closer to the benchmark, the educational instruction and library group had a median of $60,570, the installation, maintenance and repair group a median of $59,620, and the construction and extraction group a median of $59,540. Community and social service occupations had a median of $58,300, and arts and design occupations a median of $58,240.

Several large groups sit under the all-occupation benchmark, and some of them have very large numbers of projected openings.

The protective service group had a median of $50,080, just below the line. The office and administrative support group had a median of $47,450, and production occupations had a median of $46,990. Transportation and material moving occupations came in at a median of $44,350.

The sales group had a median of $38,530, and healthcare support occupations such as home health and personal care aides had a median of $38,340. Personal care and service occupations had a median of $36,410, and the food preparation and serving group had a median of $35,050.

Low group medians do not mean low ceilings. Most of these groups contain jobs that pay far above the group median, as the sections below show, and several of them have huge hiring volumes. The food preparation and serving group has about 2.4 million openings projected each year, and the office and administrative support group has about 1.7 million, even though employment in that office group is projected to decline. For a job seeker, that many openings can mean more ways in.

What Do Management, Business and Finance Jobs Pay?

Management includes many six-figure medians, and most management jobs on the federal list have a bachelor's degree as the typical entry.

On the handbook's management table, computer and information systems managers have a median of $175,140, architectural and engineering managers $171,270, and financial managers $166,570. The same table lists top executives at a median of $108,780 and medical and health services managers at $123,860. Not every management job requires a degree. The table shows transportation, storage and distribution managers at a median of $107,230 with a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry.

Our guides on what a business manager makes and what project managers make cover two of the most common management titles.

Business and finance jobs mostly start with a bachelor's degree. The business and financial table lists accountants and auditors at a median of $83,680, financial analysts at $103,570, and personal financial advisors at $105,070. Project management specialists come in at a median of $102,320 and management analysts at $101,860 on the same table. The group has about 886,600 openings projected each year.

For detail, our accountant salary guide walks through certifications and settings, and our breakdown of what financial advisors make explains salary versus fees.

What Do Tech, Math and Engineering Jobs Pay?

In tech, math and engineering, many jobs with a bachelor's degree as the typical entry have six-figure medians.

In computing, software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers have a median of $134,040, information security analysts $129,180, and computer network architects $134,050, all with a bachelor's degree as the typical entry. Computer support specialists come in at a median of $62,890, which shows how wide the range is inside one group. Our guides to what software engineers earn by level and city and cybersecurity pay by role and experience go deeper on the two biggest tech tracks.

The math group is small but well paid. The handbook lists actuaries at a median of $130,000 and data scientists at $120,230, both with a bachelor's degree as the typical entry, and the group has about 36,100 openings projected each year. Our data scientist salary guide by experience and city covers that path in detail.

Engineering spans a wide band. The architecture and engineering table puts petroleum engineers at a median of $144,910, aerospace engineers at $134,960, and civil engineers at $100,840. Engineering technicians can start with an associate degree, with mechanical engineering technologists and technicians at a median of $74,510. Our guides on what civil engineers make and electrical engineer salary cover two major specialties.

What Do Legal, Education, Science and Social Service Jobs Pay?

In these four groups, many of the best paid jobs need a graduate or professional degree, while support roles open sooner.

In law, the handbook's legal table lists lawyers at a median of $159,670 and judges and hearing officers at $132,800, both with a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry. Paralegals and legal assistants come in at a median of $62,890 with an associate degree, and court reporters and simultaneous captioners at $72,420 with a postsecondary nondegree award. Our guides to paralegal salary and what criminal defense lawyers really earn cover both ends of the field.

Teaching pay depends heavily on level. The education table lists high school teachers at a median of $72,040, kindergarten and elementary school teachers at $63,820, and preschool teachers at $38,140, and postsecondary teachers at $85,330. Our guides to what high school teachers make and what preschool teachers make break down two levels.

In science, the life, physical and social science table lists economists at a median of $124,720 and psychologists at $99,110, while biological technicians come in at $57,510. Our breakdown of what economists make goes further.

Social service work pays less than law or science but is projected to grow much faster than average. The community and social service group has about 293,400 openings projected each year, and its table lists social workers at a median of $61,780 and substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental health counselors at $59,350.

What Do Healthcare Jobs Pay?

Healthcare splits into two very different pay worlds, and the training you take on decides which one you join.

The federal healthcare page puts healthcare practitioners and technical occupations at a median of $86,530 and healthcare support occupations at $38,340. At the top, physicians and surgeons have a median of $275,930. Registered nurses come in at $97,550 with a bachelor's degree as the typical entry, and dental hygienists at $98,100 with an associate degree. On the support side, medical assistants have a median of $45,690.

Our guides to what registered nurses earn by state and specialty, pharmacist salary and what medical assistants make cover the most searched healthcare jobs in detail.

What Do Skilled Trades, Transportation and Protective Jobs Pay?

These are the groups where a high school diploma plus training, an apprenticeship or a license can lead to solid pay.

In construction, the handbook's table lists electricians at a median of $63,190, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters at $63,800, and elevator and escalator installers and repairers at $109,910, all with a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry. The group has about 587,000 openings projected each year. In repair work, electrical power-line installers and repairers have a median of $95,320 and HVAC mechanics and installers $61,010. Our guides to electrician salary, plumber salary and HVAC technician salary show how each trade's pay grows with licensing.

Production work has its own standouts. The production table lists power plant operators, distributors and dispatchers at a median of $105,080 and welders, cutters, solderers and brazers at $53,750.

Transportation pay varies widely from job to job. The transportation table lists airline and commercial pilots at a median of $210,020 and air traffic controllers at $148,080, while heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers come in at $58,640 and flight attendants at $63,580. Our guides to airline pilot salary and truck driver pay by route, rig and region go deeper.

In protective service, the handbook lists police and detectives at a median of $77,310 and firefighters at $59,280. Our breakdowns of firefighter pay by rank and department and what police and sheriff's patrol officers make cover both careers.

What Do Sales, Office, Food Service and Personal Care Jobs Pay?

These groups sit below the all-occupation median, but each one contains better paid jobs worth knowing about.

In sales, the handbook lists retail sales workers at a median of $35,560 and cashiers at $32,880, while sales engineers come in at $124,900 and insurance sales agents at $62,280. Real estate brokers and sales agents have a median of $57,400, typically with a high school diploma or equivalent. Our guide to what real estate agents make explains how commission changes the picture.

In office work, customer service representatives have a median of $44,770 and secretaries and administrative assistants $48,310, while postal service workers come in at $59,880.

In food service, chefs and head cooks have a median of $62,470, against $35,230 for waiters and waitresses. Our guide to what a chef makes by role and setting covers the kitchen ladder. In personal care, fitness trainers and instructors have a median of $47,160 and barbers, hairstylists and cosmetologists $35,880. Our guide to what personal trainers make shows where the higher earners sit.

Which Jobs Pay the Most of All?

The federal handbook keeps its own list of the 20 occupations with the highest median annual pay, and every one of them is a physician, surgeon, dental specialist or nurse anesthetist.

At the top of that list, pediatric surgeons have a median of $559,030, cardiologists $496,010, and radiologists $420,860. Dentistry appears too, with oral and maxillofacial surgeons at a median of $352,220 and orthodontists at $289,140. The one nursing role on the list is nurse anesthetists, at a median of $236,590. The healthcare table lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry for physicians and surgeons and for dentists, which is the typical entry for most of that tier, while nurse anesthetists typically enter with a master's degree.

Outside medicine, the six-figure jobs in this guide come from very different paths. Airline and commercial pilots have a median of $210,020, computer and information systems managers $175,140, computer hardware engineers $161,740 and lawyers $159,670.

Growth tells a different story from pay. The handbook's list of the 20 fastest growing occupations puts nurse practitioners at 41 percent projected growth from 2025 to 2035, solar photovoltaic installers at 37 percent, and data scientists at 35 percent. Solar photovoltaic installers have a median of $53,140 on the same list, so fast growth and high pay do not always arrive together.

How Much Does Education Change Your Pay?

Education shows a clear pay pattern in federal data, though it is not the only route to good money.

For full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and over, median usual weekly earnings in 2025 were $2,307 for a doctoral degree, $1,876 for a master's degree, and $1,578 for a bachelor's degree. The same table shows $1,135 for an associate's degree, $966 for a high school diploma, and $770 for less than a high school diploma. Unemployment rates are lower at higher education levels too, from 6.1 percent for less than a high school diploma to 2.8 percent for a bachelor's degree.

That table has an important limit. Its categories reflect only the highest level of educational attainment and do not take into account completion of training programs in the form of apprenticeships and other on-the-job training, which means a finished apprenticeship or on-the-job training does not change the category a worker is counted in. The occupation tables above show the other side of it, with elevator and escalator installers and repairers at a median of $109,910 with a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry and air traffic controllers at $148,080 with an associate degree.

Our guide to which college degrees still pay off compares majors, and our list of high-paying careers you can start without a degree covers the other route.

How Do You Research and Negotiate Your Own Pay?

The figures in this guide are the starting point, not the answer. Your own number depends on your city, employer, experience and the exact role.

Start with research before you apply. Our step by step guide on how to research what a job pays before you apply shows where to look, and our guide to pay transparency laws and what you can ask explains how to use posted ranges where the law requires them.

Talk to coworkers. Under the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board states that employees covered by the Act have the right to communicate with their coworkers about their wages, whether or not they are represented by a union.

Policies that specifically prohibit the discussion of wages are unlawful as are policies that chill employees from discussing their wages, according to the NLRB right to discuss wages page.

Know your floor and your protections. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and many states set their own minimum wage laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains that the Equal Pay Act requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work, and that it covers all forms of pay, including salary, overtime pay and bonuses.

Then negotiate the whole offer. Our complete guide on how to negotiate salary covers timing and wording, our scripts for negotiating after a job offer give you lines to use, and our guide on how to compare total compensation, not just salary helps you weigh benefits and bonuses. Once you are in the job, our guide on how to ask for a raise shows how to make the case.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: Your salary is decided by the homework you do before the offer call, not the call itself. Know the median for your job, know what moves it, and walk in with a number.

What Do These Pay Figures Leave Out?

Every occupation wage figure in this guide comes from one federal wage survey of employer establishments, and that survey has clear edges.

Wages for the OEWS survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive of premium pay, according to the BLS OEWS frequently asked questions page.

That means some real money is missing. The survey counts base rates, commissions, tips and production bonuses, but it excludes overtime pay, shift differentials, on-call pay, non-production bonuses, profit-sharing payments and stock bonuses. For a nurse working nights or a tech worker paid partly in stock, the true figure can sit above the median printed here. It is also gross pay, before taxes, and our guide to gross vs net pay explains why your paycheck is smaller than your salary.

Some workers are not counted at all. The survey does not cover the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, or unpaid family workers, which matters for freelancers, contractors and people who own their own practice or shop.

Many things move pay that a national median cannot show. The survey's own notes list level of work, age and experience, cost of living, establishment size, work schedules and unionization as factors behind wage differences. Workers concentrated in large urban areas with higher costs of living are more likely to have higher wages, so a city salary and a rural salary for the same job can look very different.

Finally, these are US figures. If you work outside the US, pay levels, job titles and training paths will differ, so use these numbers as a guide to how jobs compare rather than as a local benchmark.

What this means for your next move

The most useful thing a salary index can do is show you the shape of the market, not hand you a single number. Pay rises with the training a job demands, but plenty of jobs break that rule, and the national median for any job is only the middle of a wide range. Pick the field that fits the training you can realistically finish, check the median for the exact job, then research your city and employer before you name a number. That is how you turn a federal table into a better offer.

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People Also Asked

Q: What is the average salary in the US?

A: The most used benchmark is the median, not the average. The median annual wage for all occupations was $50,980 in May 2025, which means half of workers in the federal wage survey earned more and half earned less.

Q: What job pays the most?

A: On the federal list of the highest paying occupations, pediatric surgeons have the highest median at $559,030. Among the jobs outside medicine in this guide, airline and commercial pilots have the highest median, at $210,020.

Q: Does a college degree really pay more?

A: In federal data it does. Full-time workers age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree had median weekly earnings of $1,578 in 2025, against $966 for a high school diploma. Some trade and technical jobs still pay well above the median without one.

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