Jobs and pay in Arizona

The highest-paying occupations in Arizona

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.

3 further occupations are paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes them only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: anesthesiologists, cardiologists, emergency medicine physicians. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$558,970
2. Radiologists$470,640
3. Surgeons, all other$415,980
4. Neurologists$409,610
5. Obstetricians and gynecologists$369,720
6. Physicians, pathologists$338,290
7. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons$322,800
8. Physicians, all other$312,490
9. Family medicine physicians$292,760
10. Orthodontists$272,330
11. General internal medicine physicians$259,320
12. Psychiatrists$249,720
13. Nurse anesthetists$248,660
14. Dentists, all other specialists$244,170
15. Pediatricians, general$233,950
16. Dermatologists$233,270
17. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$227,870
18. Dentists, general$194,180
19. Architectural and engineering managers$167,480
20. Computer and information systems managers$166,430
21. Computer hardware engineers$158,280
22. Database architects$156,100
23. Veterinarians$152,020
24. Pharmacists$146,930
25. Sales managers$145,690

Where the jobs actually are in Arizona

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. General and operations managers110,480 employed
2. Retail salespersons93,920 employed
3. Customer service representatives87,020 employed
4. Fast food and counter workers77,210 employed
5. Home health and personal care aides74,540 employed
6. Registered nurses73,150 employed
7. Cashiers72,570 employed
8. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand71,090 employed
9. Stockers and order fillers57,510 employed
10. Waiters and waitresses55,950 employed
11. Office clerks, general52,710 employed
12. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers40,150 employed
13. Maintenance and repair workers, general39,000 employed
14. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners38,290 employed
15. Software developers38,050 employed
16. Construction laborers37,630 employed
17. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers31,930 employed
18. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive31,220 employed
19. Cooks, restaurant30,870 employed
20. Security guards29,820 employed
21. Accountants and auditors27,410 employed
22. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel26,340 employed
23. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary25,280 employed
24. Elementary school teachers, except special education24,240 employed
25. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators23,540 employed

The best-paid Arizona 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. Air traffic controllers$136,800 · Associate's degree
2. Surgical assistants$111,170 · Postsecondary nondegree award
3. Models$109,910 · No formal educational credential
4. Radiation therapists$108,760 · Associate's degree
5. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$104,850 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Gas plant operators$104,600 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Commercial pilots$103,060 · Postsecondary nondegree award
8. Detectives and criminal investigators$102,340 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. Dental hygienists$101,010 · Associate's degree
10. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$100,600 · Associate's degree
11. Nuclear medicine technologists$100,130 · Associate's degree
12. Diagnostic medical sonographers$100,040 · Associate's degree
13. Media and communication equipment workers, all other$99,320 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Postmasters and mail superintendents$99,050 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$98,750 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Power distributors and dispatchers$98,510 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$96,470 · Postsecondary nondegree award
18. Signal and track switch repairers$96,460 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Radio, cellular, and tower equipment installers and repairers$95,040 · Associate's degree
20. Locomotive engineers$89,840 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Radiologic technologists and technicians$89,200 · Associate's degree
22. Insurance appraisers, auto damage$86,030 · Postsecondary nondegree award
23. Commercial divers$85,990 · Postsecondary nondegree award
24. Power plant operators$84,970 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment$84,110 · Postsecondary nondegree award

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 Arizona does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Arizona 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.

Continuous mining machine operators lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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