High Paying Healthcare Industry Jobs
Many of the top paying jobs in the United States are directly related to the health care industry (Physicians/surgeons, dentists, and pharmacists). If you dig around, you’ll find that even if you just have a two-year degree, the health care industry has some of the highest paying jobs out there. In fact, LVNs and EMTs, who are often only required to go through a six-month program are even paid fairly well when compared to others in jobs that don’t require a degree. Almost everyone in the medical world has the opportunity to make the big bucks a lot faster than would be possible in other industries.
Why? In short, there’s a shortage of workers.
Even when the economy is bad, people need hospitals, drug companies, and emergency services, so the market here hasn’t slowed as it has in other industries in recent months. An AARP report found that Americans spend over $2 trillion on health care, which is more than they spent on food. In addition, states are creating even more jobs in this field. For example, in a recent two year span, California alone created 30,000 new health care jobs, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. There just aren’t enough people to fill these jobs, especially in nursing.
Most hospitals are continuously hiring and are willing to pay large salaries and even, in many cases, offer signing bonuses for new employees. When a certain skill is in high demand, salaries will always rise.
But becoming a nurse isn’t the only way to make money in the health care industry. Here are some other high-paying medical jobs:
- Surgeons: If you become a surgeon, especially if you specialize in a specific field, you can expect to make, on average, over $180,000 a year, according to Forbes. The highest paying surgeon jobs can be found in Maine.
- Anesthesiologists: Although they don’t actively perform surgery, anesthesiologists are used in just about every operating room to administer the anesthetics safely. They make, on average, almost $175,000 a year.
- Pediatricians: Children need to see their doctors more than adults, so in this field, you’ll be busy, but the rewards are well worth it. The top-paying positions are actually in schools, where the average annual salary is over $145,000.
- Dentists, Oral Surgeons, Orthodontists, and Prosthodontists: Dentists, especially oral surgeons, are often forgotten in the medical industry when recent high school graduates are comparing careers, but finding a high-paying job in this career field is easy. Read about dentist careers on $100KJobFinder.
- OB/GYNs: Obstetricians and Gynecologists typically makes as much or more than anesthesiologists, but in a less intense environment. The focus here is on reproduction and disease prevention.
- Psychiatrists: Like to listen to other people’s problems? What if you’re paid to do so? Surprisingly, this is a top-paying career, coming in at over $150,000 a year.
In addition to these job fields, hospital CEOs, podiatrists, optometrists, pharmacists, and funeral directors all make $100K+ salaries. If you add the insurance industry into the mix, you can find even more jobs that will have you filling your bank account fairly quickly. Unlike other industries, which follow trends at times, there will always be a demand for candidates to fill health care positions, so this is a great path if you’re looking for a high-paying job.