Highest-paying trade jobs in 2024, according to Indeed

[GON]

My gut feeling is that this chart is a very flawed study by Indeed (maybe much of what is published today is very flawed).

Nonetheless, it is interesting to look at and thought provoking when talking about what trades pay to young people making career decisions. Two of the most surprising items in the list were the dental hygienist and electrician. I had no idea dental hygienist was a top paying field (again-likely flawed stats), and electrician was not a better paying field (can't stress enough likely flawed numbers).

Want to stress I think the below data may have been published by a guy in his mom's basement- but still thought provoking.

• Ultrasonographer: $131,161
• Respiratory therapist: $104,437
• Dental hygienist: $99,013
• Construction manager: $88,319
• Aircraft mechanic: $82,846
• Cable technician: $70,714
• Industrial mechanic: $69,637
• Solar installer: $69,442
• Real estate appraiser: $64,075
• Electrician: $62,739
• Licensed practice nurse: $59,125
• Wind turbine technician: $58,005
• 
  
• 
  
• Elevator and escalator installer: $100,060
• Electrical power line installer: $85,900
• Aircraft mechanics technician: $76,260
• Boilermaker: $73,840
• Telecommunications installer: $69,040
• Ironworker: $68,220
• Pipefitter, plumber and steamfitter: $67,840
• Electrician: $67,810
• Wind turbine technician: $65,380
• Millwright: $64,310

Skilled workers are in demand, these trade jobs pay the most

Demand for skilled workers is driving up salaries in trade jobs, and vocational school enrollment is on the rise. Here are the higest-paying trade jobs in the U.S. right now.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[Vercingetorix]

Would like to see how those compare to what a starting teacher makes.

 

[Jdeere562]

My Daughter is a RN with a bachelor degree. She says my Niece, who is a dental hygienist, makes more $ than her.
Did not make sense to me, but she says the jobs are few and hard to come by.

How many Dentist's are around, compared to DR offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and the likes? Many more jobs open in the field.

 

[AZjeff]

Wind turbine tech twice at $58k and $65k??

Who considers ultrasono-whatever a trade job?

 

[John105]

Would like to see how those compare to what a starting teacher makes.

I know a lot has changed. In my day, electrical engineer was one of the highest starting salaries out of college. Why not as it took more credits to attain.

But as I say, things change, and quickly. An 8 year old who was #1 on YouTube making $28 mil, still makes that number what 4 years later, but he's at the bottom of the list of top earners on YouTube. They are now in the likes of $67 mil. at the top.

Are those median numbers? Because if one pulls numbers from Weston, MA, teachers, cops, etc., over $200k. And we know that's not typical throughout the country.

My wife's boss was fired, elementary school principal. She grabbed an unruly kid by the shirt. Her salary was $160k, and she recently was the announcer at the track meet, i.e. fully engaged with the community. She wasn't expecting to simply lose her job. The action demoralized the school. I still have not been able to unwrap the enigma where our police chief shows $600k. It has to be some sort of payout other than salary alone, has to be. But you have LA County lifeguards topping $500k.

I would expect school teachers' salaries to be quite a wide range. In my town it's about $73k at the elementary school level. Starting I think is around $50k. Not exactly a lot, so I respect those who chose to go into this field. It's not for pay.

If it's money that one cares about, we seem to live in a society where it's very possible to attain it in rather large sums.

 

[John105]

My Daughter is a RN with a bachelor degree. She says my Niece, who is a dental hygienist, makes more $ than her.
Did not make sense to me, but she says the jobs are few and hard to come by.

How many Dentist's are around, compared to DR offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and the likes? Many more jobs open in the field.

I didn't really understand it myself, but the hygienist at our dentist's office was studying pharmacy, which in my day was 5 years. It's now 8. She said all her brothers are pharmacists and in their time the pay was really low. But due to demand it's now come up. So what I'm saying is I was surprised someone capable of being a pharmacist would want to be a hygienist. Now we know why.

 

[loneryder]

I don't believe those numbers either. A cable tech making almost as much as an Aircraft mechanic? I know dental hyg's are in demand and so are nurses.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Would like to see how those compare to what a starting teacher makes.

Our teachers shape generations, yet we poorly value them.

 

[GON]

I don't believe those numbers either. A cable tech making almost as much as an Aircraft mechanic? I know dental hyg's are in demand and so are nurses.

The numbers are very suspect and likely not holistic. But the numbers do bring up the ability for a parent/ mentor to discuss with a young person different career fields and what they might pay, of course a lot of research needs to follow on how to get into that trade/ profession.

An example of how off the numbers may be is the electrician pay. A IBEW electrician working at a refinery/chemical plant in the greater Houston area, likely earns with mandatory overtime and mandatory working holidays, etc- I speculate may earn $200k+ USD per year. An electrician working in rural Maine working residential (non-union) might make $40k-70k USD annually.

 

[panthermike]

Fully believe the Dental HG, good paying job. I'm in the medical field and the Respiratory Therapist data seems a bit high to me. My brother does that and he's probably around 75k in the Phx area.

 

[alarmguy]

...

Who considers ultrasono-whatever a trade job?

Yeah, I kind of agree but entry point is on the low side, much like a radiologist. I suspect the higher wage earners in this field completed more training and education once working at a medical facility. If I was born at a later time, I do find the field interesting. I think there is no limit to the technology and I LOVE the technology of more advanced radiology, meaning advancement in the field is easy and most all times will be paid for by the medial network you work for if you start out with a basic entry level position. Getting on in year about a decade ago I looked into it. You can get into the field with just going to a technical school and move up from there.
I found this ...

"You can get started by completing two or four years of medical sonographer schooling."

How To Become A Sonographer: Steps And Requirements

If you want to land an impactful, in-demand medical career within a few years, consider becoming a sonographer. Sonographers perform noninvasive ultrasound tests to find potential health issues on the resulting images. Demand for this high-paying job is expected to increase over the next decade.

www.forbes.com

It is interesting, all amount to supply and demand. Many go to higher education without researching what they are spending those education dollars on and the return they will get. Many more simple fields can produce a living wage with little to no debt.

I had an echogram (actually a couple) but last one was an incredible pretty young lady, friendly too... well ok, never mind that. But I am amazed at the technology and equipment being used, seeing your heart beating up on a screen and the amount of detail she was punching into the console, every aspect of my heart, every angle, it was quite lengthy \. We spoke for quite a while and how she got into the field when she wasnt sure what she wanted to do with her life she found this passion.
Anyway, for someone young this can be just the tip of the iceberg, I doubt she made 6 figure income but I dont know, I was AMAZED at the report, I dowloaded all the imaging and details of the imaging. Just fascinating the wealth of information in that report.

This is a sample of the information of the "sonogram" (echogram) on my heart. I left some other page or two out because my personal info was on it.
Pretty impressive, love this stuff.

 

[doitmyself]

My Daughter is a RN with a bachelor degree. She says my Niece, who is a dental hygienist, makes more $ than her.
Did not make sense to me, but she says the jobs are few and hard to come by.

How many Dentist's are around, compared to DR offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and the likes? Many more jobs open in the field.

Dental Hygienist is the one that jumped out at me. Associate degree. Relatively good work surroundings IF you are ok with being in people's mouths all day. 99k and probably good benefits. Can pick and choose your work locale anywhere around the country.

I'm gonna let my grand kids know about this.

 

[Kira]

The grandson of a friend is graduation high school next week and I've heard "trade school" mentioned.
The kid must be a tad more focused.

Gotta agree with GON's guess that the article is just another example of thrown together clap-trap.
Terms like "millwright" are just way too vague. Better to know materials' handling programs or business management over being a cog in a mill.

 

[John105]

Our teachers shape generations, yet we poorly value them.

Until I had a child, I had that mentality oh they want to strike? Air traffic controller time!

Then, there was a clue in turbo tax for teachers and supplies. They spend their own money on them unreimbursed, and it’s common enough to be a question in turbo tax.

Upon meeting them in person, suddenly my appreciation did a 180. And it became a two way street. They’re not overpaid generally speaking and they are doing what they want to do and benefitting kids.

Ok yes my wife also works for the school district now and I get my health care as a result, so I’m not completely an outsider looking in.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Until I had a child, I had that mentality oh they want to strike? Air traffic controller time!

Then, there was a clue in turbo tax for teachers and supplies. They spend their own money on them unreimbursed, and it’s common enough to be a question in turbo tax.

Upon meeting them in person, suddenly my appreciation did a 180. And it became a two way street. They’re not overpaid generally speaking and they are doing what they want to do and benefitting kids.

Ok yes my wife also works for the school district now and I get my health care as a result, so I’m not completely an outsider looking in.

One has to wonder what the quality of US education would be if teacher salary was comparable to other occupations.
Around here, the high school kids drive better cars than their teachers.

 

[GON]

One has to wonder what the quality of US education would be if teacher salary was comparable to other occupations.
Around here, the high school kids drive better cars than their teachers.

I agree teachers should be compensated competitively. I am not sure tripling the pay of every public school teacher will result in measurable increases in reading, math, or science scores for the students.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I agree teachers should be compensated competitively. I am not sure tripling the pay of every public school teacher will result in measurable increases in reading, math, or science scores for the students.

As long as it brought in more to the teaching profession, I believe it would. Not sure if and when we will find out. Oftentimes children listen to their teachers more than their parents.

Teachers saved me from myself. I remember this little German Physics teacher with thick glasses. She allowed me to spout my thoughts and then calmly said, "Let's try this..." She lovingly demonstrated how wrong my thoughts were. I was blown away.

 

[GON]

As long as it brought in more to the teaching profession, I believe it would. Not sure if and when we will find out. Oftentimes children listen to their teachers more than their parents.

Teachers saved me from myself. I remember this little German Physics teacher with thick glasses. She allowed me to spout my thoughts and then calmly said, "Let's try this..." She lovingly demonstrated how wrong my thoughts were. I was blown away.

I am retiring in 76 days. I formally applied at over a dozen schools across the country, and also emailed a resume and cover letter to the school principals.

I applied exclusively for positions that were vacant. I only received three acknowledgements of my applications, zero acknowledgementa of my email from a single school principal.

Not sure the lack of response from a single principal was not that they didn't like to review my resume, I speculate they are overwhelmed with other issues and instruction to students has taken a back seat.

 

[jeepman3071]

One has to wonder what the quality of US education would be if teacher salary was comparable to other occupations.
Around here, the high school kids drive better cars than their teachers.

I've worked in education technology for 10+ years now. The administration are paid much higher than the teachers and one would argue are the ones making all the poor decisions. I agree teachers are extremely undervalued for what they do, but there are many different contributing factors to a suffering education system.

This list will also vary greatly depending on the demand in that area as well as the cost of living. I'm guessing an aircraft mechanic at O'Hare in Chicago makes a different salary than a guy working at a small shop in Alabama.

 

[John105]

I am retiring in 76 days. I formally applied at over a dozen schools across the country, and also emailed a resume and cover letter to the school principals.

I applied exclusively for positions that were vacant. I only received three acknowledgements of my applications, zero acknowledgementa of my email from a single school principal.

Not sure the lack of response from a single principal was not that they didn't like to review my resume, I speculate they are overwhelmed with other issues and instruction to students has taken a back seat.

Congratulations on the upcoming retirement!

My guess on the lack of response is simply rhat it’s the way that school districts operate. My wife can’t get her hours confirmed for summer school.

When we sign up for healthcare (July 1 through June 30), the website is so poor that we are signing up for the plan based on a code like Z4253AG. How we translate that into a PPO or HMO is anybody’s guess. It’s a different world. My wife spent 2 years trying to get a job as she was feeling very not happy working at a bank. Now she loves her job and she loves the kids (elementary).

I would honestly say don’t let any perceived unprofessionalism or lack of competence dissuade you. You may end up in a position you love and it would have been worth it. Plenty of retired people are full time employees at our school district…