Jobs and pay in Hawaii

The highest-paying occupations in Hawaii

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: cardiologists, emergency medicine physicians, general internal medicine physicians, radiologists. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Physicians, all other$339,290
2. Obstetricians and gynecologists$338,130
3. Psychiatrists$289,990
4. Chief executives$281,640
5. Family medicine physicians$218,210
6. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$211,810
7. Pediatricians, general$197,090
8. Nurse midwives$170,110
9. Dentists, general$167,820
10. Physician assistants$164,050
11. Pharmacists$163,220
12. Computer hardware engineers$159,880
13. Air traffic controllers$158,700
14. Optometrists$154,620
15. Architectural and engineering managers$151,670
16. Medical and health services managers$147,630
17. Marriage and family therapists$141,960
18. Computer and information systems managers$141,640
19. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$140,590
20. Aerospace engineers$137,240
21. Registered nurses$136,320
22. Psychologists, all other$135,680
23. Nurse practitioners$135,570
24. Computer and information research scientists$134,350
25. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$134,340

Where the jobs actually are in Hawaii

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. Fast food and counter workers24,130 employed
2. Retail salespersons19,180 employed
3. Waiters and waitresses14,090 employed
4. General and operations managers13,380 employed
5. Registered nurses12,940 employed
6. Office clerks, general12,930 employed
7. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners11,230 employed
8. Maids and housekeeping cleaners11,120 employed
9. Cooks, restaurant11,090 employed
10. Cashiers10,780 employed
11. Security guards10,160 employed
12. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers10,090 employed
13. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand9,490 employed
14. Stockers and order fillers8,830 employed
15. Maintenance and repair workers, general8,030 employed
16. Customer service representatives8,010 employed
17. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers7,330 employed
18. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers7,040 employed
19. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive7,020 employed
20. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers6,580 employed
21. Home health and personal care aides6,150 employed
22. Elementary school teachers, except special education6,040 employed
23. Food preparation workers5,950 employed
24. Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education5,590 employed
25. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary5,470 employed

The best-paid Hawaii 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$158,700 · Associate's degree
2. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$140,590 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$134,340 · High school diploma or equivalent
4. Ship engineers$131,640 · Postsecondary nondegree award
5. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$127,330 · Postsecondary nondegree award
6. Nuclear medicine technologists$125,650 · Associate's degree
7. Radiation therapists$125,520 · Associate's degree
8. Diagnostic medical sonographers$124,430 · Associate's degree
9. Crane and tower operators$124,260 · High school diploma or equivalent
10. Power plant operators$121,700 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$119,370 · Associate's degree
12. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators$115,860 · High school diploma or equivalent
13. Lodging managers$114,070 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Detectives and criminal investigators$113,940 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Commercial pilots$113,030 · Postsecondary nondegree award
16. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians$111,730 · Associate's degree
17. Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators$111,360 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Transportation inspectors$108,270 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Hoist and winch operators$107,100 · No formal educational credential
20. Drywall and ceiling tile installers$104,830 · No formal educational credential
21. Plasterers and stucco masons$104,260 · No formal educational credential
22. Stationary engineers and boiler operators$103,400 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers$102,630 · High school diploma or equivalent
24. Radiologic technologists and technicians$101,700 · Associate's degree
25. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$101,480 · 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 Hawaii does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Hawaii 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.

Baggage porters and bellhops lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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