Jobs and pay in Maine

The highest-paying occupations in Maine

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.

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

1. Radiologists$555,750
2. Physicians, all other$419,410
3. Obstetricians and gynecologists$379,930
4. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$337,850
5. General internal medicine physicians$316,880
6. Orthodontists$301,250
7. Psychiatrists$300,180
8. Nurse anesthetists$247,470
9. Pediatricians, general$245,920
10. Family medicine physicians$239,870
11. Dentists, general$209,200
12. Podiatrists$200,850
13. Public relations managers$166,940
14. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$161,470
15. Computer and information systems managers$160,260
16. Sales managers$158,660
17. Optometrists$154,110
18. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$147,930
19. Architectural and engineering managers$145,720
20. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$143,690
21. Natural sciences managers$141,360
22. Financial risk specialists$141,020
23. Pharmacists$140,930
24. Chief executives$138,770
25. Law teachers, postsecondary$136,400

Where the jobs actually are in Maine

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. Home health and personal care aides18,630 employed
2. Retail salespersons18,450 employed
3. Fast food and counter workers17,250 employed
4. Registered nurses16,540 employed
5. General and operations managers14,770 employed
6. Cashiers14,240 employed
7. Stockers and order fillers11,950 employed
8. Office clerks, general11,260 employed
9. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers9,980 employed
10. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners9,180 employed
11. Waiters and waitresses9,090 employed
12. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary8,700 employed
13. Nursing assistants8,540 employed
14. Customer service representatives7,560 employed
15. Elementary school teachers, except special education7,490 employed
16. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks7,390 employed
17. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive6,740 employed
18. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers6,410 employed
19. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand6,120 employed
20. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers6,000 employed
21. Maintenance and repair workers, general5,820 employed
22. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers5,760 employed
23. Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education5,540 employed
24. Carpenters5,170 employed
25. Cooks, restaurant5,130 employed

The best-paid Maine 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. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$143,690 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Power distributors and dispatchers$121,520 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Commercial pilots$117,560 · Postsecondary nondegree award
4. Air traffic controllers$107,270 · Associate's degree
5. Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other$107,060 · Associate's degree
6. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$102,110 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Radiation therapists$101,980 · Associate's degree
8. Nuclear medicine technologists$99,500 · Associate's degree
9. Dental hygienists$97,680 · Associate's degree
10. Diagnostic medical sonographers$95,230 · Associate's degree
11. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$94,140 · Associate's degree
12. Gas plant operators$93,990 · High school diploma or equivalent
13. Postmasters and mail superintendents$93,000 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$92,570 · Postsecondary nondegree award
15. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$92,350 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Telecommunications line installers and repairers$92,120 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. Detectives and criminal investigators$88,310 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians$83,440 · Associate's degree
19. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$83,090 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers$82,910 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians$82,510 · Associate's degree
22. Respiratory therapists$82,470 · Associate's degree
23. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians$82,050 · Associate's degree
24. First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all other$81,330 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment$81,180 · 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 Maine does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Maine 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.

Shoe machine operators and tenders lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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