Top 10 List of High Paying Careers and Best Average Starting Salaries

Posted by Kristina Cowan

With the cost of living soaring, it makes sense that jobs offering the best starting salaries are increasingly sought-after--by everyone from recent college graduates to career-changers. This article touts a handy list of high paying careers that might surprise you.

By Cherie Berkley, special to PayScale.com

You may be striking out on a new career path, but that doesn’t mean your salary has to start low on the totem pole.  PayScale.com has created the following list of high paying careers with the highest average starting salaries. Each of these hot jobs has an average starting salary over $50,000. So, with no further ado, here is a top ten list of high salary careers with the best starting salaries.

High Salary Careers

1. Investment Banking Analyst. If you are good with numbers and solving real-world problems, this hot job pays handsomely in the early years. Not to mention its strong long-term earning potential with bonuses and benefits that can take you far beyond the average starting salary.
Average Starting Salaries of $59,084+

2. Business Analyst, Computer Software. Data mining is a hot field with strong career potential. There’s also strong potential with the salary of business analyst jobs, and they offer one of the best starting salaries today. Normally used by financial institutions such as banks, data miners sort through vast amounts of information that help companies make the best use of the information in their data warehouses. A master's degree in computer science, physics, or statistics is usually required.
Average Starting Salaries of $50,727+

3. Forensic Computer Analyst. Computer forensics is the analysis of information contained within and created with computer systems and computing devices. Forensic computer analysts frequently contribute to white-collar criminal investigations and investigate causes of computer meltdowns, computer system misuse, or crime details contained within computer systems. Given the computer forensic salary potential, more people are beginning to investigate this growing career. 
Average Starting Salaries of $51,852+

4. Junior Associate Lawyer. The financial scales of justice certainly tip toward starting salaries for associate lawyers. And looking beyond lawyer starting salaries, after five years' experience the average salary jumps to $89,210. Depending on the field of specialty, the long-term earning potential is almost limitless. Big-shot lawyers like Sen. John Edwards (malpractice) and celebrity criminal defense attorney Mark Gerago have cleaned up millions in their careers.
Average Starting Salaries of $52,678+

5. Physical Therapist. What is the starting salary for physical therapists? Let’s just say that if anatomy is your thing, physical therapy may be your path to greener pastures. Physical therapists can specialize in areas such as hand or back therapy to boost their marketability – and salary potential. 
Average Starting Salaries of $52,573+

6. Nurse Practitioner (ARNP). If a doctor cannot squeeze you in for an appointment, chances are there is a nurse practitioner standing by in his or her place. While nurse practitioners don’t command the big bucks that physicians do, their services certainly don’t come cheap. This career path has among the best starting salaries.
Average Starting Salaries of $67,166+

7. Electrical Engineer. It is easy to do the math on how marketable engineers are. Companies dig deep to lure young electrical engineers and other subspecialties across the board. Electrical engineers focus on using electricity to transmit energy. Payscale.com shows that with experience, electrical engineering salaries can reach up to $81,078.
Average Starting Salaries of $54,401+

8. Software Engineer. Software engineers design, write, and test computer programs. Computer networking and information technology are hot fields on the list of high paying careers.
Average Starting Salaries of $56,795+

9. Pharmaceutical Sales Representative. You don’t have to be a physician or even a science major to make big bucks in medicine. Just about anyone with a college degree and a killer personality can be trained in pharmaceutical sales. Pharmaceutical sales reps make sales calls to doctors’ offices, peddling the latest drugs from the companies they represent. Seasoned pros can make six figures in this field.
Average Starting Salaries of $51,104+

10. Veterinarian. Do you love animals? Veterinarians can combine a passion for their warm, furry friends with great earning power. With growing animal research and interest in pet care, veterinarian medicine is bound to remain a popular profession for years to come.
Average Starting Salaries of $59,084+

No matter what your skill, passion, or personality, the job market offers numerous professions that also have above-average starting salaries. Just keep your eyes open and reach for the green.

Comments

[Rachel]

I have found lots of high paying jobs on employment sites -

http://www.realmatch.com
http://www.indeed.com
http://www.simplyhired.com

I see 100K jobs here.

[Nurse Job]

but caring for people is not for money for me, it is my own desire and i love to serve people........

[Rich Andrade]

I was thinking of changing from construction to health care. Do you know off hand the hrly pay for a starting position right out of school from like Kaplan college would make in the job (x-ray technician) Let me know if possible. Thank you

[paul]

As a Nurse Practitioner, I don't "stand by" the side of any physician. Patients see me because they choose to. My Masters degree, training, and experience is worth 67K, in fact I make much more than that; but I do my job to care for patients, not because I want to become rich doing it.

[Simon Stone]

As a medical doctor, the conventional wisdom is that financially we "have it made." Unfortunately, too many gifted people go into medicine for personal gain. Having practiced medicine for 20 years now, this appears to be especially true for foreign medical graduates who have left their own, so often, ailing countries to enter the United States in the lure of "big money."
They bring with them value systems that are far different from those which were intact when the United States ranked 1 or 2 in the world's health care. (We now rank number 37, yes, that is third world medicine.) A major part of job satisfaction used to be a sense of community. Physicians, nurses were role models and dedicated to their communities. Our entire value system has certainly changed, so evident being in the field of medicine. We have lost, perhaps, a collective unconscious, so vital to anyone's self esteem in what appears to be a circus. The problem is, with the snowballing greed, the tent appears to be on fire. So many delude themselves re: happiness, satisfaction. We older physicians, on the whole begin taking a differnt view of the world. We have to in order to retain what is so vital, not only in medicine, and appears to be leaving our culture rapidly. That is EMPATHY. What ever religion, spiritual leaning, without empathy humanity is lost.

[julia rivera]

Registered Pharmacists should have been included in this list. Starting salaries are over $100K in the retail field.

[julio rojas]

I want to go to college, but not sure what I'm going to choose for a career. i want a good paying job, but not many years in college. What do you suggest? email me alejandranastache@sbcglobal.net

[Robert Marangu]

I would like to know more about salary scale, does it means that a physicists and Mathematicians are not included in the top 10?

[Ashante Parker]

I am currently a nursing student. I have already been accepted into 2 different programs and I'm on an academic scholarship. I've also been working as a nurse assistant (CNA),for 4 years at the medical center in Houston. Patient care has been rewarding, but being around bitter nurses 12 hours a day has me thinking about changing my major and going to medical school. I have been researching Doctor of Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, and Podiatry. My parents said I should go because I dont have any kids and the time would go by fast but they also were really rooting for me to become a nurse, but I don't want to waste my time and money. Does anyone have any suggestions.

[bohdog]

Ashante-

If you are looking to stay out of hospitals, DC and DPM are your best bet.

The best money is going to be in Podiatry of the 3 you listed , easily making 6 figures ( and not very difficult to get into comparable to medical school)

Chiropractors CAN make hundreds of thousands but the profession is very top heavy, with about 20 % of them making 80 % of the money. 30% or so actually fail out of practice and there are not any salaried jobs to fall back on other than teaching at chiro school.

PT- Lifestyle is ok, except most of the time you are in a hospital type setting if that is what you like. The DPT may be changing that. Regardless it is hard to justify 3 extra years of grad school to come out making 50 k. That is hard money to live on.

I would reccomend Podiatry, Dentistry, or Optometry if you are looking at allied health proffesions with good lifestyles. Optometrists make good money and work very low stress lifestyles.