Job Qualifications

The Best-Paid U.S. Jobs Requiring No Bachelor's Degree

If you're looking for a well-paid job but you don't have the money, time and sheer patience required to complete a four-year bachelor degree, do not fear! According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published by Business Insider, plenty of U.S. jobs require an associate degree (usually taking two years), a postsecondary nondegree certificate or a high-school diploma.

Air-traffic controller offers the highest wages without a bachelor degree with the median annual salary coming to $122,410. Prospective applicants should keep in mind that the job still requires an associate degree. Even though nuclear-power reactor operator sounds like a job requiring extensive university qualifications, it actually only requires a high-school diploma or equivalent. It has a very lucrative median salary of $91,170 a year.

Description

This chart shows the median annual wage in jobs typically not requiring a 4-year bachelor degree (2016).

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Leading jobs that do not require a four-year degree in the United States in 2024, by projected number of new job openings by 2032
Highest paying associate degrees in the United States in 2024, by median annual salary (in U.S. dollars)
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Highest paying bachelor's degrees in the United States in 2024, by median pay (in U.S. dollars)
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Synthetic* work-life earnings for full-time, year-round workers with a Bachelor's degree in the United States in 2011, by occupation (in million U.S. dollars)
Highest paying graduate degrees in the U.S. in 2016/17, by mid-career salary (in U.S. dollars)
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Ranking of average starting salaries for bachelor's degree recipients in the United States in 2014, by major (in U.S. dollars)

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