Highest-Paying Jobs of the Year

With a strengthening economy and an unemployment rate hovering around 4.3 percent—down from 5.3 percent just two years ago—the U.S. job market is looking bright for workers.

While certain industries like textiles, manufacturing, and publishing continue to struggle, other sectors are seeing rapid growth—and robust salaries. Not surprisingly, most high-paying jobs are in fields such as technology, medicine, and finance and typically require advanced degrees and specialized training. However, some occupations, like a data architect or plant manager, only require a bachelor’s degree.

Bottom line: If you’re college bound and considering career options, there’s plenty of opportunities out there to make some serious bank.

But it also takes dedication, a strong work ethic and, in some cases, wince-inducing student loans to compete in today’s innovative, rapidly changing job market.

For skilled workers who have already launched their careers, you’re in a strong position to leverage your skills to ask for a raise or find a more lucrative position. In fact, Glassdoor indicates that in today’s market, when people leave a job for a pay raise, the new position can pay as much as 20 percent more. And of course, it’s always helpful to sharpen your IT skills via classes or online services like Lynda.com, which will make you more marketable for almost any job. As you’re mulling your career path—or perhaps eyeballing that corner office—check out this list of the 25 highest-paying jobs for 2017, which is based on a recent Glassdoor report. The organization only included jobs that received at least 100 salary reports shared by U.S.-based employees over the past year (2/1/16 – 1/31/17). To ensure the most reliable median base salary for all job titles, Glassdoor applied a proprietary statistical algorithm to estimate annual median base pay, which controls for factors such as location and seniority.

Physicians diagnose, treat and prevent injuries and illnesses in patients.

Not only is this the highest-paying job on the list, it’s also one of the most secure—people are always going to get sick and encounter various ailments as they age. But the job also comes with plenty of pressure and stress, and requires many years of education and training. Candidates must first earn a bachelor’s degree, typically in biology or pre-medicine, followed by a four-year Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program.

A pharmacy manager is a licensed pharmacist who manages drug-dispensing operations for hospitals, pharmacies or medical clinics.

Requirements include a six-year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree, which focuses on disciplines such as toxicology, pathophysiology and pharmacy law. A bachelor’s degree is not required for admission. Typically, a licensed pharmacist needs substantial experience to be promoted to a pharmacy director; some candidates also pursue a master’s or doctoral degree in pharmacy administration.

Patent attorneys complete and file patent applications and work to protect the rights of the inventor or patent holder.

This is often a stressful and demanding job that requires long hours, including court appearances. Educational requirements include a four-year undergraduate degree and a Juris Doctor law degree, which typically takes three years of full-time study. You must also pass a state bar examination to appear before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

 Using top-notch research and communication skills, medical science liaisons provide doctors and other personnel with information about new medical products, treatments, devices and drugs.

The position requires deep industry knowledge, as liaisons represent their employer—including pharmaceutical manufacturers and biotechnology firms—to important decision-makers and government regulatory agencies. Educational requirements include a doctorate in medicine or life sciences, such as a Ph.D., Medical Doctor (M.D.) and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D).