Jobs and pay in Pennsylvania

The highest-paying occupations in Pennsylvania

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: dermatologists, emergency medicine physicians, neurologists, obstetricians and gynecologists, surgeons, all other. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Cardiologists$579,120
2. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons$553,740
3. Anesthesiologists$461,390
4. Radiologists$455,380
5. Physicians, pathologists$413,370
6. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$354,020
7. Orthodontists$311,180
8. Family medicine physicians$306,030
9. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$304,290
10. Psychiatrists$278,970
11. Chief executives$232,560
12. Pediatricians, general$226,440
13. Nurse anesthetists$221,530
14. Physicians, all other$217,310
15. General internal medicine physicians$213,310
16. Physicists$210,990
17. Dentists, all other specialists$195,150
18. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$164,990
19. Architectural and engineering managers$164,690
20. Computer and information systems managers$163,910
21. Dentists, general$163,390
22. Lawyers$157,180
23. Podiatrists$155,050
24. Marketing managers$150,810
25. Financial managers$145,610

Where the jobs actually are in Pennsylvania

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 aides257,370 employed
2. General and operations managers172,010 employed
3. Registered nurses146,520 employed
4. Fast food and counter workers142,220 employed
5. Retail salespersons141,790 employed
6. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand131,050 employed
7. Stockers and order fillers119,840 employed
8. Cashiers110,950 employed
9. Office clerks, general107,500 employed
10. Customer service representatives94,340 employed
11. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers87,550 employed
12. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners86,920 employed
13. Waiters and waitresses82,300 employed
14. Nursing assistants67,740 employed
15. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive65,310 employed
16. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators57,780 employed
17. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers56,600 employed
18. Software developers55,920 employed
19. Maintenance and repair workers, general55,590 employed
20. Accountants and auditors54,290 employed
21. Cooks, restaurant54,100 employed
22. Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education52,240 employed
23. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products51,270 employed
24. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks48,920 employed
25. Elementary school teachers, except special education48,370 employed

The best-paid Pennsylvania 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$134,030 · Postsecondary nondegree award
2. Air traffic controllers$132,350 · Associate's degree
3. Nuclear technicians$124,070 · Associate's degree
4. Avionics technicians$117,470 · Postsecondary nondegree award
5. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$117,250 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$106,230 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$105,240 · High school diploma or equivalent
8. Funeral home managers$104,400 · Associate's degree
9. Radio, cellular, and tower equipment installers and repairers$103,010 · Associate's degree
10. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$102,400 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$101,660 · Postsecondary nondegree award
12. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$101,050 · Postsecondary nondegree award
13. Radiation therapists$100,540 · Associate's degree
14. Power distributors and dispatchers$98,930 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Detectives and criminal investigators$97,580 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Postmasters and mail superintendents$97,530 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. Power plant operators$95,800 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Insurance appraisers, auto damage$95,720 · Postsecondary nondegree award
19. Gambling managers$94,800 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$94,600 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Nuclear medicine technologists$94,570 · Associate's degree
22. Pile driver operators$93,550 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$91,120 · Associate's degree
24. Boilermakers$86,850 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Artists and related workers, all other$86,260 · No formal educational credential

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 Pennsylvania does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Pennsylvania 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.

Shampooers lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

Other states