The best- and worst-paying jobs

By Forbes.com

There was a little remembered and mercifully short-lived TV comedy series in the early 1970s called Temperatures Rising. The subtitle of this hospital sitcom was How to Cure a Doctor of Money.

It doesn't seem you can.

The medical profession continues to dominate the top end of the annual Forbes list of the 25 best- and worst-paying jobs in America. The top nine places are occupied by medical specialists, with anesthesiologists topping the heap, followed by surgeons and orthodontists.

Chief executives, at No. 10, and airline pilots, at No. 11 (up three places from the previous year, despite what ails airlines), break the medical cartel, but only temporarily. The next five places are back in the well-scrubbed hands of doctors and dentists.

Even lawyers don't make an appearance until No. 17, down one place from the previous year.

At the other end of the scale are low- or no-skill jobs in services such as restaurants, hotels and leisure businesses. The lowest paid of all? People who cook, prepare and serve in fast-food joints, followed by dishwashers, bus boys and the folks who shampoo your hair.

12 times as much money at the top

According to government data, the mean annual salary for America's 31,030 anesthesiologists is $192,780, up 4.6% from a year earlier. For the 2.6 million whose job combines food preparation and service, it is one-twelfth as much, $16,700, up 4.8% from a year earlier. The mean annual pay for all jobs is $40,690, up 3.8%.

In all, the lowest-paying 25 occupations employ 15.6 million people in America; the best-paying jobs employ 3 million.

Forbes' numbers are drawn from the U.S. government's National, State and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. The latest ones available use 2007 data and are based on a national survey of employers of every size and in all industry sectors. They examine 801 occupations.

The survey covers full- and part-time workers who are paid a wage or salary. It does not include the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers and unpaid family workers.

It asks about basic pay, incentive bonuses and commissions, but not overtime pay or non-wage compensation, such as stock options.

That helps explain why mean annual wages appear lower than one might have expected at the top end and higher at the bottom, where undocumented workers are unlikely to be counted accurately and sources of cash income like tips are underreported.

Broad variation based on industry, area

Remember, too, that these are mean salaries for what are standardized job categories. They give no indication of how distant the outliers at either end of the salary scale for any occupation might be, nor of variations between subcategories of any particular job.

Earnings can vary widely for the same occupation in different industries and in different places. Service station attendants employed by the federal government, for example, earn almost twice the national average for the job. Ditto cashiers who work for telecom resellers.

Usually, low-paid jobs can often command a small premium in industries that are generally higher paying, The handful of maids and housekeepers employed by scientific research establishments earn on average two-thirds as much again as the national average.

Where you live can also have a huge impact on what you make. The states and metropolitan areas in the high-wage Northeast pay top dollar in many occupations, as do employers in similarly pricey Silicon Valley.

Remote states, particularly Alaska and Hawaii, also pay well for needed skills. On average, Hawaii pays best for bartenders, bus boys, laundry and dry cleaning workers, lifeguards, and service station attendants; Alaska for food preparers and short-order cooks. Nevada pays above average for dishwashers, Oregon for dentists, Idaho for psychiatrists.

Clicks on the links below for more information on each job and which industries and metro areas provide the best opportunities.

This article was reported and written by Paul Maidment for Forbes.com.

America's best- and worst-paying jobs
Job	Average salary	Job	Average salary
Anesthesiologists	$192,780	Food preparation and serving workers	$16,700
Surgeons	$191,410	Fast food cooks	$16,860
Orthodontists	$185,340	Dishwashers	$17,060
Obstetricians and gynecologists	$183,600	Dining room/cafeteria attendants	$17,380
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons	$178,440	Shampooers	$17,490
Prosthodontists	$169,360	Hosts and hostesses	$17,770
General internists	$167,270	Counter attendants	$17,820
Other physicians and surgeons	$155,150	Ushers, lobby attendants and ticket takers	$17,880
Family and general practitioners	$153,640	Gaming dealers	$18,120
Chief executives	$151,370	Amusement and recreation attendants	$18,220
See the rest of America's best-paying jobs		See the rest of America's worst-paying jobs

Updated Nov. 18, 2008