One map shows the highest-paying job in every state
· Business Insider
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- Business Insider looked at what jobs pay the best in every state and Washington, DC.
- We looked at titles with at least 1,000 employees and specific average annual wages.
- Healthcare gigs dominated; they were the best-paying jobs in half of the US states.
Family medicine physician was the best-paying job in seven states last year.
Business Insider previously ranked the highest-paying jobs in the US using May 2025 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now, we wanted to see what pays the best on average by state and in Washington, DC.
To do so, we only looked at occupations with both specific employment and average annual wage estimates. We ranked those with at least 1,000 employees to determine the best-paying position for each area. We excluded catchall job titles, such as a grouping for physicians not listed separately.
You can hover over the map below to see which job titles paid the most on average based on our criteria, along with the estimated number of employees.
Chief executives were the top-paying job in 14 states. The highest-paying job in half of the states was a healthcare-related role. For instance, the highest-paying job in Pennsylvania with at least 1,000 workers was radiologists. Meanwhile, cardiologists were the best-paying role among jobs that fit our criteria in Georgia, New York, and Texas.
Some of the jobs on the map above also made our list of high-paying, fast-growing jobs. For instance, financial managers are the best-paying in a handful of states, and employment is projected to grow nationally by 128,800 between 2024 and 2034. Postsecondary health specialties teachers were the highest-paying gig in Arkansas and Mississippi, and nationwide employment is projected to increase by 50,100. However, most healthcare-related jobs that appear on the map aren't projected to see a lot of job growth over the decade at the national level.
Still, the healthcare sector has been helping prop up the US job market. The sector accounted for about a third of April's job growth on its own. In 2025, the sector accounted for over 100% of overall job growth; the US economy, excluding healthcare, lost jobs. Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, previously told Business Insider that the US is "rapidly turning into not just a service economy, but a healthcare-driven economy."
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