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Explore careers by what they pay, how fast they are growing, and the education they actually require, using Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET data. Useful when a teenager likes a subject but has no idea what it leads to.
Pediatric Surgeons tops the list at $559,030. Nearly everything at this end requires a doctoral or professional degree, so weigh it against the years and the debt it takes to qualify.
Median pay and the 2024 to 2034 employment projections come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Skills, tasks and typical education levels come from O*NET, the Department of Labor occupational database. Both are the same sources a school careers office uses.
Half the people working in that occupation earn more and half earn less, measured across the whole country and across all experience levels. A graduate starting out will normally earn well below the median, so it is a reasonable mid-career figure rather than a starting salary.
Growth tells you whether the number of jobs is expanding, not whether the work suits your child or whether entry is easy. Some of the fastest-growing occupations are small to begin with, so a large percentage still means few openings. Growth is most useful read next to pay, entry requirements and total employment.
No, and most do not. What helps is narrowing to a field, because that decides which colleges are worth applying to. A student aiming at nursing or engineering needs schools that actually offer accredited programmes, while a student aiming at business or communications has far more options.
A great deal, and it varies sharply by field. Several of the highest-paying occupations require a doctoral or professional degree and a decade of training, while some of the fastest-growing require a certificate or an apprenticeship. Each career page states the education level typically needed for entry.