Jobs and pay in Nevada

The highest-paying occupations in Nevada

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.

1 further occupation is paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes it only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: anesthesiologists. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Dermatologists$419,410
2. Radiologists$386,210
3. Physicians, pathologists$384,350
4. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$345,600
5. Surgeons, all other$326,520
6. Physicians, all other$252,120
7. Family medicine physicians$251,550
8. Psychiatrists$210,030
9. Podiatrists$204,990
10. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$192,460
11. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$166,360
12. Computer and information systems managers$165,000
13. Dentists, general$162,200
14. Architectural and engineering managers$161,560
15. Physicists$154,030
16. Lawyers$150,510
17. Chief executives$149,770
18. Psychologists, all other$146,850
19. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$141,950
20. Air traffic controllers$140,920
21. Nurse practitioners$140,670
22. Database architects$140,200
23. Pharmacists$140,030
24. Power distributors and dispatchers$138,300
25. Computer network architects$138,060

Where the jobs actually are in Nevada

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 workers45,850 employed
2. Retail salespersons43,920 employed
3. Waiters and waitresses42,520 employed
4. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand40,850 employed
5. General and operations managers38,920 employed
6. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners32,830 employed
7. Customer service representatives32,110 employed
8. Stockers and order fillers31,270 employed
9. Cashiers30,160 employed
10. Cooks, restaurant27,250 employed
11. Registered nurses27,070 employed
12. Security guards26,680 employed
13. Maids and housekeeping cleaners24,380 employed
14. Office clerks, general20,430 employed
15. Home health and personal care aides17,940 employed
16. Gambling dealers17,390 employed
17. Bartenders16,830 employed
18. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive16,790 employed
19. Maintenance and repair workers, general16,520 employed
20. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks15,180 employed
21. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers15,010 employed
22. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers14,380 employed
23. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers14,230 employed
24. Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers12,750 employed
25. Carpenters12,700 employed

The best-paid Nevada 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$141,950 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Air traffic controllers$140,920 · Associate's degree
3. Power distributors and dispatchers$138,300 · High school diploma or equivalent
4. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$132,100 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Power plant operators$131,400 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Athletes and sports competitors$119,780 · No formal educational credential
7. Crane and tower operators$115,840 · High school diploma or equivalent
8. Dental hygienists$115,290 · Associate's degree
9. Insulation workers, mechanical$114,130 · High school diploma or equivalent
10. Nuclear medicine technologists$109,150 · Associate's degree
11. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$107,260 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Commercial pilots$105,340 · Postsecondary nondegree award
13. Aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians$102,980 · Associate's degree
14. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment$102,210 · Postsecondary nondegree award
15. Reinforcing iron and rebar workers$102,130 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Surgical assistants$100,820 · Postsecondary nondegree award
17. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$99,860 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$98,260 · Associate's degree
19. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$96,560 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. Diagnostic medical sonographers$95,980 · Associate's degree
21. Aircraft mechanics and service technicians$94,890 · Postsecondary nondegree award
22. Detectives and criminal investigators$94,470 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$93,920 · Postsecondary nondegree award
24. Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other$93,670 · Associate's degree
25. Fire inspectors and investigators$93,450 · 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 Nevada does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Nevada 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.

First-line supervisors of gambling services workers lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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