Special Report
Highest-Paying Jobs That Don't Require A Bachelor’s Degree
Published:
It may often seem as though a college degree is a prerequisite for any career, and often it is. For generations, it has been hammered home that to get a good job, we need a college education, and although college existed as far back as the 17th century in the United States (Harvard was founded in 1636), it didn’t become something many people did until the 20th century.
Higher education has long been seen as a practical step toward financial security and upward mobility in the United States, but more and more people are finding it unnecessary to earn a good wage. Yet, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics illustrates how a typical full-time worker with a bachelor’s degree earns about 68% more than the typical worker with no more than a high school diploma.
Part of this shift in attitude towards earning a college degree is partially attributed to rising costs. Adjusting for inflation, average annual tuition and fees at a four-year private college climbed from just over $10,000 in the early 1970s to nearly $33,000 in 2020. For many high school graduates, the amount of debt they would need to take on to earn a degree is not worth the potential payoff. (Here is a look at the 50 most expensive colleges in America.)
Even for those with a four-year degree, a high salary isn’t something guaranteed, and those who decide that university is not for them are not relegated to a life of low-paying careers. There are dozens of employment opportunities for those with an associate’s degree, trade school, or less that pay as much or more than most of the jobs available to college graduates.
24/7 Wall St. identified the highest-paying jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree by using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. Occupations are ranked by their median annual wage in 2022. Jobs classified with an “all other” or “miscellaneous” designation were excluded from the analysis.
Note that the median wage is the middle amount, halfway between the lowest and highest wage offered for each job. For the average wage, calculated by adding all the wages offered for each job and dividing by the number of different wages, see the 40 highest-paying jobs you can get without a college degree.
The annual median wages among the occupations listed here range from just over $67,000 to well over $100,000. Just over half of these jobs typically have no formal educational requirements beyond high school – though many prefer candidates with years of related work experience.
Here are the highest-paying jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
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