Jobs and pay in Alaska

The highest-paying occupations in Alaska

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

4 further occupations are paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes them only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: oral and maxillofacial surgeons, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric, surgeons, all other. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Emergency medicine physicians$452,620
2. Obstetricians and gynecologists$421,450
3. General internal medicine physicians$366,080
4. Physicians, all other$355,100
5. Neurologists$354,760
6. Psychiatrists$342,170
7. Nurse anesthetists$341,210
8. Family medicine physicians$323,490
9. Pediatricians, general$267,390
10. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$232,140
11. Dentists, general$230,990
12. Petroleum engineers$206,290
13. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$183,310
14. Optometrists$170,310
15. Business teachers, postsecondary$168,930
16. Pharmacists$167,310
17. Chief executives$166,710
18. Architectural and engineering managers$164,260
19. Industrial engineers$156,510
20. Nurse practitioners$155,170
21. Physician assistants$150,700
22. Lawyers$149,940
23. Engineers, all other$142,390
24. Construction managers$139,190
25. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$137,320

Where the jobs actually are in Alaska

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Retail salespersons7,890 employed
2. Registered nurses7,510 employed
3. Stockers and order fillers6,770 employed
4. Home health and personal care aides6,530 employed
5. General and operations managers6,020 employed
6. Fast food and counter workers5,900 employed
7. Cashiers5,810 employed
8. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers5,690 employed
9. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive5,390 employed
10. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners5,200 employed
11. Maintenance and repair workers, general4,590 employed
12. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks4,580 employed
13. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand4,250 employed
14. Waiters and waitresses3,830 employed
15. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary3,810 employed
16. Construction laborers3,690 employed
17. Elementary school teachers, except special education3,500 employed
18. Office clerks, general3,440 employed
19. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers3,420 employed
20. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators3,050 employed
21. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers3,030 employed
22. Food preparation workers2,800 employed
23. Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education2,790 employed
24. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers2,720 employed
25. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers2,690 employed

The best-paid Alaska work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$137,320 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Massage therapists$134,930 · Postsecondary nondegree award
3. Dental hygienists$132,690 · Associate's degree
4. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$125,260 · Postsecondary nondegree award
5. Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers$124,530 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Air traffic controllers$123,950 · Associate's degree
7. Transportation inspectors$123,120 · High school diploma or equivalent
8. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$120,610 · Associate's degree
9. Detectives and criminal investigators$114,940 · High school diploma or equivalent
10. Precision instrument and equipment repairers, all other$113,670 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Control and valve installers and repairers, except mechanical door$109,450 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Underground mining machine operators, all other$106,840 · No formal educational credential
13. Service unit operators, oil and gas$106,480 · No formal educational credential
14. Gas compressor and gas pumping station operators$106,440 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians$105,780 · Associate's degree
16. Diagnostic medical sonographers$105,670 · Associate's degree
17. Mechanical door repairers$103,550 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$103,080 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Construction and building inspectors$102,410 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers$102,140 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Commercial pilots$100,120 · Postsecondary nondegree award
22. Police and sheriff's patrol officers$99,130 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Radiologic technologists and technicians$98,920 · Associate's degree
24. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$98,420 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers$98,110 · High school diploma or equivalent

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What Alaska does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Alaska employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Gambling service workers, all other lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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