The top 25 US occupations ranked by 2026 national median annual salary. Plus the highest-paying job ranking for every state.
Ranked by median annual base salary. Click any role for full national + state detail.
| Rank | Role | Median 2026 | 75th % | Top 10% (P90) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | CEO (Mid-Market) Business & Management | $509,200 | $901,800 | $1,591,400 |
| #2 | Surgeon Healthcare | $419,000 | $573,300 | $771,800 |
| #3 | Chief Financial Officer Finance | $383,500 | $621,300 | $1,017,700 |
| #4 | Physician (MD/DO) Healthcare | $270,100 | $369,300 | $496,100 |
| #5 | Corporate Lawyer Legal | $230,300 | $342,800 | $514,200 |
| #6 | Investment Banker Finance | $208,900 | $310,700 | $449,900 |
| #7 | Dentist Healthcare | $198,400 | $264,600 | $352,800 |
| #8 | AI Engineer Technology | $197,500 | $267,900 | $357,200 |
| #9 | Machine Learning Engineer Technology | $180,700 | $241,600 | $309,900 |
| #10 | Senior Software Engineer Technology | $176,500 | $225,900 | $283,700 |
| #11 | Site Reliability Engineer Technology | $170,200 | $220,600 | $278,400 |
| #12 | IT Manager Technology | $166,000 | $215,400 | $271,100 |
| #13 | Controller Finance | $162,800 | $214,200 | $267,800 |
| #14 | Judge / Magistrate Legal | $162,800 | $208,900 | $257,100 |
| #15 | Management Consultant Business & Management | $161,300 | $228,100 | $339,500 |
| #16 | Product Manager Technology | $159,700 | $208,000 | $262,700 |
| #17 | Lawyer / Attorney Legal | $158,500 | $248,500 | $391,000 |
| #18 | Petroleum Engineer Engineering | $157,000 | $210,100 | $284,300 |
| #19 | Sales Engineer Sales | $157,000 | $210,100 | $273,700 |
| #20 | Data Scientist Technology | $155,500 | $201,700 | $252,100 |
| #21 | Marketing Manager Business & Management | $153,800 | $206,900 | $267,300 |
| #22 | Pharmacist Healthcare | $152,100 | $174,200 | $196,200 |
| #23 | Account Executive (SaaS) Sales | $150,600 | $228,100 | $339,500 |
| #24 | Data Engineer Technology | $149,200 | $194,400 | $243,700 |
| #25 | Cloud Engineer (AWS/Azure) Technology | $149,200 | $191,200 | $236,400 |
Top 25 rankings tailored to each state's cost of living and job-market composition.