Jobs and pay in North Dakota

The highest-paying occupations in North Dakota

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.

5 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, cardiologists, physicians, pathologists, orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Surgeons, all other$604,890
2. Radiologists$553,140
3. Physicians, all other$454,550
4. Obstetricians and gynecologists$414,060
5. Emergency medicine physicians$392,890
6. General internal medicine physicians$338,400
7. Family medicine physicians$280,100
8. Nurse anesthetists$244,240
9. Pediatricians, general$234,950
10. Dentists, general$220,660
11. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$171,100
12. Chief executives$164,560
13. Computer and information systems managers$149,130
14. Physical scientists, all other$147,650
15. Architectural and engineering managers$147,400
16. Pharmacists$142,040
17. Human resources managers$139,050
18. Financial managers$135,890
19. Physician assistants$133,450
20. Commercial pilots$133,010
21. Petroleum engineers$132,120
22. Optometrists$132,110
23. Natural sciences managers$131,370
24. Purchasing managers$130,110
25. Nurse practitioners$130,070

Where the jobs actually are in North Dakota

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. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers11,870 employed
2. Fast food and counter workers11,470 employed
3. Registered nurses11,340 employed
4. Retail salespersons11,320 employed
5. General and operations managers11,150 employed
6. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand9,990 employed
7. Cashiers9,510 employed
8. Office clerks, general8,440 employed
9. Home health and personal care aides7,730 employed
10. Nursing assistants6,840 employed
11. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners6,720 employed
12. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive5,800 employed
13. Customer service representatives5,750 employed
14. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary5,600 employed
15. Waiters and waitresses5,250 employed
16. Stockers and order fillers5,240 employed
17. Construction laborers5,050 employed
18. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators4,890 employed
19. Cooks, restaurant4,490 employed
20. Accountants and auditors4,430 employed
21. Elementary school teachers, except special education4,430 employed
22. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators4,410 employed
23. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers4,350 employed
24. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks4,290 employed
25. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products4,180 employed

The best-paid North Dakota 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. Commercial pilots$133,010 · Postsecondary nondegree award
2. Power plant operators$122,160 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Air traffic controllers$107,990 · Associate's degree
4. Transportation inspectors$106,330 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$105,870 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Control and valve installers and repairers, except mechanical door$103,580 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Nuclear medicine technologists$102,640 · Associate's degree
8. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$100,720 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment$98,700 · Postsecondary nondegree award
10. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$98,300 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Gas plant operators$96,760 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers$93,130 · High school diploma or equivalent
13. Postmasters and mail superintendents$91,040 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers$90,890 · Postsecondary nondegree award
15. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers$90,600 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Dental hygienists$90,530 · Associate's degree
17. Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining$90,380 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Diagnostic medical sonographers$84,340 · Associate's degree
19. Crane and tower operators$82,890 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$82,880 · Postsecondary nondegree award
21. Electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians$82,820 · Associate's degree
22. Detectives and criminal investigators$82,290 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Structural iron and steel workers$82,120 · High school diploma or equivalent
24. Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers$81,400 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers$81,370 · 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 North Dakota does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of North Dakota 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.

Wellhead pumpers lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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