Forbes has put together a list of America’s Best and Worst Paying jobs. The best? Anesthesiologists with a mean annual wage of $184,340. The worst? Food prep and Fast food workers: $15,930.
The lists inside.
Best:
Anesthesiologists: $184,340
Surgeons: $184,150
Obstetricians And Gynecologists: $178,040
Orthodontists: $176,900
Oral And Maxillofacial Surgeons: $164,760
Internists, General: $160,860
Prosthodontists: $158,940
Psychiatrists: $149,990
Family And General Practitioners: $149,850
Chief Executives: $144,600
Physicians And Surgeons, All Other: $142,220
Pediatricians, General: $141,440
Dentists, General: $140,950
Airline Pilots, Copilots And Flight Engineers: $140,380
Podiatrists: $118,500
Lawyers: $113,660
Air Traffic Controllers: $110,270
Engineering Managers: $110,030
Dentists, All Other Specialists: $108,340
Natural Sciences Managers: $107,970
Marketing Managers: $107,610
Computer And Information Systems Managers: $107,250
Sales Managers: $102,730
Petroleum Engineers: $101,620
Financial Managers: $101,450
Worst:
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food: $15,930
Cooks, fast food: $15,960
Dishwashers: $16,190
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers: $16,320
Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop: $16,860
Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop: $16,950
Gaming dealers: $17,010
Shampooers: $17,050
Waiters and waitresses: $17,190
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers: $17,500
Amusement and recreation attendants: $17,530
Farm workers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse: $17,630
Cashiers: $17,930
Personal and home care aides: $18,180
Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers: $18,410
Parking lot attendants: $18,450
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials: $18,470
Food preparation workers: $18,480
Bartenders: $18,540
Graders and sorters, agricultural products: $18,610
Maids and housekeeping cleaners: $18,700
Cooks, short order: $18,710
Child care workers: $18,820
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers: $18,890
Service station attendants: $19,150
Is your job on the list? Ours isn’t. —MEGHANN MARCO
America’s Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs [Forbes via Consumerism Commentary]
(Photo: Demedulce)
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Sadly, airline employees aren’t on the list. The gate agents and rampers make from 7.50 to 11 an hour, after several years with some carriers. In the case of Mesa-airlines, 12 of them.
And you wonder why the luggage is broken and you can’t get information from anyone at the counter…
I thought the Consumerist credited the photos they use from their Flickr pool? It should be credited to Demedulce.
@EditorPerson: … and it is after the jump! Never mind!
A new soldier enlisting in the US Army as a Private (E-1) and getting an automatic promotion at 6 months to Private Second Class will make $16,171.80 for the first year.
No
Congressmen or Senators
University Professors or Administrators
It’s good to point out that there are large disparities based on location and specialty within some of these categories. For example, the average starting salary at large law firms in Boston last year was around $145,000. By contrast, starting salaries for prosecutors are below $40,000.
How do you find out how much Executive Directors of nonprofits make? Isn’t that public information? Because The ED of the nonprofit I work for should be on that best paid list, I’m sure.
I guess i’m biased because i’ve worked in popular restuarants and bars, but i made more as a bartender during my university years ($20-30/hour) than the job i have now that needs my 3 degrees. But i guess i had reached the pinnacle of bartending– probably in the 95th %ile.
Good to see my career field, Marketing Manager, is in the upper half. Of course, I’d have to get an MBA to make 6 figures, but hey… even if we’re part of the useless third of society, at least we get compensated well
Well, this is incredibly skewed because it doesn’t take such things as tips, tip-share, etc into account for bartenders. A bartender only makes $18,5K a year?
Yeah, right. You mean a bartender only reports enough tips not to get audited by the IRS.
Also, for executives, managers, etc. I expect that to be much, much higher when you consider bonuses, perks, travel, etc. This seems to only address raw salary.
So, Americans will pay people more money to do their laundry than they will to look after their kids.
I’m incredibly sad now. Thanks Consumerist.
I make less than the lowest on this list. Only slightly less, but still. This is after college, too. I was definitely making much more before as a bartender.
The title of this article should be re-named “Want to feel bad about your career? Look no further.”
Everyone should also note, This list is based on Reported Income. I don’t think most service oriented people report ALL their cash income, i sure didn’t.
That list made my day! (I’m in dental school!)
@Her Grace: That’s often cited, but it’s actually not true (malpractice for anesthesiologists is actually pretty low on the scale of things…about 20,000 depending on where you practice). They get sued quite a bit, but they are rarely found to be responsible.
Having just received an $8,000 pre-insurance partial bill from the top three people on this list (for a c-section, natch), I can certainly believe it.
Bite me Accountants, Marketing is where its at woot! That really surprises me that Marketing Managers showed up on the list but not Accountants. I definitely have to post this list somewhere to remind myself that I won’t be forever poor after I graduate….. I just maybe have to go to the states to get unpoor
If it were possible to take tips into consideration, this list would be very different. I’ve met hairdressers who make 80-100k anually thanks to tips.
Since I work in a coffee shop I’m also wondering about those numbers. There is no way in hell they took tips into consideration there.
Michael Moore is going to have an aneurysm when he sees those numbers.
These figures are averages, people. Yes, there are a lot of waitresses who work at five star restaurants and can take home a thousand dollars a night in tips, but there are also waitresses at IHOP making less money than you’ve probably got tucked under your couch. They are NOT saying that all bartenders make the same amount of money or that all lawyers make the same amount of money.
Incidentally, I make over 200K a month… too bad it’s not paid in dollars.
@facted:
Defending a lawsuit is a costly affair whether you win or lose.
@Her Grace: “I have a feeling a lot of those top jobs pay a small fortune yearly in insurance. The malpractice on an anesthisiologist is sky-high.”
Yes — there’d be a big difference between a doctor (or lawyer) making that salary and paying his own malpractice premiums and a doctor (or lawyer) working for an employer who paid him that salary AND paid his premiums for him.
@Starfury: “I work for lawyers and I know that the Associates are getting much more than the $113k starting pay. The partners make even more.”
At the largest firms in A VERY FEW PARTS OF THE COUNTRY. Associates start at about $50,000 here (with the same student loans, incidentally, as those making $145,000 starting; housing costs adjust with salary when you move somewhere smaller, but student loan payments don’t). Very few partners make as much as $113,000 in my city. Many mid-range firms in “first-tier” cities (the ones where big firms start associates at $145k) start associates at around $80,000.
@WhatsMyNameAgain: “How do you find out how much Executive Directors of nonprofits make? Isn’t that public information?”
Should be on the tax filings, maybe the 990?
It seems unlikely that a full time bartender would make only $18,000. Is this what the IRS forces them to report as salary and tips? If you are working 260 days a year, 8 hours a day and only getting $18000, you need to move to another bar.
Considering that few people would argue with the idea that doctors are well paid and food service workers are not, I’m surprised that so many commenters want to quibble with the actual numbers.
Also, for somebody to say that salaries where they live/work are lower than the reported “mean annual wages” says little about the accuracy of the numbers. Take for example the case of attorneys. The fact the a lawyer working outside of a large metropolitan area earns less (or far less, it appears) than the $113K provided by Forbes, may be mathematically insignificant. In fact, New York, Chicago, D.C., L.A and other places where starting salaries are high account for the vast majority of attorneys in the country. In Boston, for example, a single office (without regard to how many other offices a firm has throughout the country/world) may employee 300+ attorneys. There are entire cities and towns accross the country that are not served by that many attorneys. Therefore, the salary of an attorney in Chicago is likely a better indicator of the average figure than is the salary of some lawyer in EBF.
From Reuters, via the New Zealand Herald: Contrary to the notion that American tourists are obnoxious, a survey of 15,000 European hoteliers found that Americans ranked second, behind the Japanese, as the world’s politest and most preferable guests.
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I don’t buy into the figures given here. As a former pre-med major looking into Podiatry, I did some extensive research into their average salaries in my area (a fairly major metropolitan area) and it was nowhere near the $118K reported here. I talked to doctors that delivered pizzas and sold Amway in their offices to come up with the repayments for their loans. Granted, that was about 10 years ago, but I doubt it has skyrocketed that much since then…