Except at the very top, most income still comes from labor. Looking just at labor, who makes the most today? The table below shows the highest paid occupations, lowest paid occupations, and some occupations from the middle.
Table 13: Mean 2019 annual income for selected occupations. Source: Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
| Occupation | Employment 2019 | Annual Mean Income 2019 |
| Top 15 occupations | ||
| Anesthesiologists | 31,010 | $261,730 |
| Surgeons, Except Ophthalmologists | 36,270 | $252,040 |
| Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons | 4,650 | $237,570 |
| Obstetricians and Gynecologists | 18,620 | $233,610 |
| Orthodontists | 5,990 | $230,830 |
| Psychiatrists | 25,530 | $220,430 |
| Family Medicine Physicians | 109,370 | $213,270 |
| Physicians, All Other; and Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric | 390,680 | $203,450 |
| General Internal Medicine Physicians | 44,610 | $201,440 |
| Chief Executives | 205,890 | $193,850 |
| Pediatricians, General | 29,740 | $184,410 |
| Dentists | 127,200 | $183,060 |
| Nurse Anesthetists | 43,570 | $181,040 |
| Dentists, General | 110,730 | $178,260 |
| Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers | 84,520 | $174,870 |
| Petroleum Engineers | 32,620 | $156,780 |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | 433,960 | $156,390 |
| Architectural and Engineering Managers | 194,250 | $152,930 |
| Employment and average income top 15 occupations | 1,929,210 | $184,165 |
| Some Selected Middle-Income Occupations | ||
| Project Management Specialists and Business Operations Specialists, All Other | 1,279,390 | $80,220 |
| Accountants and Auditors | 1,280,700 | $79,520 |
| Logisticians | 182,050 | $78,680 |
| Insurance Underwriters | 100,050 | $77,640 |
| Registered Nurses | 2,982,280 | $77,460 |
| Dental Hygienists | 221,560 | $77,230 |
| Loan Officers | 308,370 | $76,200 |
| Social and Community Service Managers | 156,460 | $72,900 |
| Compliance Officers | 317,600 | $72,850 |
| Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers | 111,660 | $71,960 |
| Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers | 220,750 | $71,720 |
| Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists | 678,500 | $71,570 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers | 626,180 | $71,440 |
| Cost Estimators | 210,000 | $71,350 |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 1,344,530 | $71,110 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers | 485,700 | $70,550 |
| Public Relations Specialists | 244,730 | $70,190 |
| Buyers and Purchasing Agents | 421,280 | $69,680 |
| Instructional Coordinators | 176,690 | $69,180 |
| Sub-total employment, selected middle occupations shown | 11,348,480 | $75,208 |
| More Selected Middle-Income Occupations | ||
| Firefighters | 324,620 | $54,650 |
| Sheet Metal Workers | 131,300 | $54,480 |
| Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | 405,750 | $54,210 |
| Carpenters | 734,170 | $52,850 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers | 103,580 | $52,340 |
| Postal Service Mail Carriers | 339,650 | $52,180 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | 117,770 | $51,670 |
| Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers | 342,040 | $51,420 |
| Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators | 102,390 | $51,190 |
| Child, Family, and School Social Workers | 327,710 | $51,030 |
| Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants | 168,140 | $50,900 |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 370,380 | $50,640 |
| Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers | 102,850 | $50,560 |
| Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators | 123,730 | $50,490 |
| Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists | 266,330 | $50,360 |
| Correctional Officers and Jailers | 423,050 | $50,130 |
| Surgical Technologists | 109,000 | $50,110 |
| Sub-total employment, selected middle occupations shown | 4,492,460 | $51,935 |
| Lowest Paid 14 Occupations | ||
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | 277,580 | $26,080 |
| Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks | 267,940 | $25,950 |
| Food Preparation Workers | 863,740 | $25,820 |
| Childcare Workers | 561,520 | $25,510 |
| Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers | 209,330 | $25,420 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | 143,940 | $25,380 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | 477,270 | $25,020 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | 138,160 | $24,870 |
| Dishwashers | 514,330 | $24,410 |
| Cashiers | 3,596,630 | $24,370 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | 338,110 | $24,330 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | 423,380 | $24,010 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | 527,220 | $23,530 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 3,996,820 | $23,250 |
| Sub-total employment 14 lowest paid occupations | 12,335,970 | $24,246 |
The top nine occupations with the highest average income in this data are all medical professionals. Chief executives are next, but CEO pay is dramatically skewed depending on the size of the business. We can see that the average annual income at the top of the occupation range is about 10 times the mean annual income at the bottom, before taxes. That doesn’t explain the difference we noted in Figure 34 which showed the highest decile households as having almost 20 times the average household income as the lowest decile. The explanation is again the long tail of extremely high incomes, much of that from sources other than labor. Occupations at the 1% level include executives, managers, finance professionals, lawyers, medical professionals, real estate professionals, skilled sales, and a few others in declining percent of income[1].
[1] “Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data.” https://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/BakijaColeHeimJobsIncomeGrowthTopEarners.pdf.