Jobs and pay in Oregon

The highest-paying occupations in Oregon

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.

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

1. Obstetricians and gynecologists$395,340
2. Physicians, all other$347,180
3. Chief executives$341,630
4. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$334,450
5. Psychiatrists$314,880
6. Family medicine physicians$293,240
7. Nurse anesthetists$272,330
8. General internal medicine physicians$268,570
9. Dentists, all other specialists$256,510
10. Pediatricians, general$224,690
11. Dentists, general$211,690
12. Podiatrists$207,430
13. Computer and information research scientists$206,220
14. Physicists$200,320
15. Medical dosimetrists$183,990
16. Architectural and engineering managers$177,190
17. Computer and information systems managers$175,270
18. Industrial-organizational psychologists$174,980
19. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$173,190
20. Law teachers, postsecondary$167,010
21. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$166,400
22. Pharmacists$165,960
23. Marketing managers$161,560
24. Compensation and benefits managers$161,470
25. Financial managers$156,460

Where the jobs actually are in Oregon

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 workers59,920 employed
2. Retail salespersons48,090 employed
3. Stockers and order fillers42,690 employed
4. Home health and personal care aides42,330 employed
5. Registered nurses39,730 employed
6. Cashiers37,660 employed
7. General and operations managers36,190 employed
8. Office clerks, general27,980 employed
9. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand27,720 employed
10. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners25,890 employed
11. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers23,970 employed
12. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive23,150 employed
13. Waiters and waitresses23,040 employed
14. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary23,030 employed
15. Personal care and service workers, all other22,930 employed
16. Software developers21,830 employed
17. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks21,710 employed
18. Cooks, restaurant21,550 employed
19. Customer service representatives19,440 employed
20. Project management specialists19,380 employed
21. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers16,880 employed
22. Medical secretaries and administrative assistants16,840 employed
23. Maintenance and repair workers, general16,160 employed
24. Carpenters15,110 employed
25. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products15,020 employed

The best-paid Oregon 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$138,600 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Power distributors and dispatchers$137,490 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Radiation therapists$131,600 · Associate's degree
4. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$131,090 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$131,050 · Postsecondary nondegree award
6. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$122,130 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Nuclear medicine technologists$122,100 · Associate's degree
8. Dental hygienists$122,080 · Associate's degree
9. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$121,920 · Associate's degree
10. Commercial pilots$120,760 · Postsecondary nondegree award
11. Diagnostic medical sonographers$120,220 · Associate's degree
12. Insulation workers, mechanical$119,480 · High school diploma or equivalent
13. Fire inspectors and investigators$115,080 · Postsecondary nondegree award
14. Power plant operators$109,830 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Gas plant operators$109,760 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Detectives and criminal investigators$107,450 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment$104,410 · Postsecondary nondegree award
18. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$103,520 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers$103,070 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. Radiologic technologists and technicians$102,290 · Associate's degree
21. Electricians$101,310 · High school diploma or equivalent
22. Respiratory therapists$100,560 · Associate's degree
23. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$100,260 · Postsecondary nondegree award
24. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$99,890 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians$99,240 · Associate's degree

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 Oregon does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Oregon 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.

Personal care and service workers, all other lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

Other states