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Pay by field of work, United States, May 2025

The 22 major groups of occupations used in official United States statistics, with the median pay and number of jobs of each. Open a field to compare the occupations inside it.

FieldMedian a yearMedian an hourJobsOccupations
Management$126,520$60.8311,132,70037
Computer and Mathematical$109,280$52.545,260,11021
Legal$102,500$49.281,305,6208
Architecture and Engineering$99,520$47.852,617,13036
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical$86,530$41.609,823,86071
Business and Financial Operations$82,660$39.7410,537,24032
Life, Physical, and Social Science$82,530$39.681,473,26048
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media$62,750$30.172,046,29041
Educational Instruction and Library$60,570$29.129,100,57064
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair$59,620$28.666,086,19051
Construction and Extraction$59,540$28.636,425,16060
Community and Social Service$58,300$28.032,668,68017
Protective Service$50,080$24.083,776,61024
Office and Administrative Support$47,450$22.8117,753,43054
Production$46,990$22.598,565,760105
Transportation and Material Moving$44,350$21.3213,677,15050
Sales and Related$38,530$18.5213,424,30022
Healthcare Support$38,340$18.437,901,67017
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance$37,680$18.124,548,26010
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry$36,630$17.61435,20013
Personal Care and Service$36,410$17.513,255,79032
Food Preparation and Serving Related$35,050$16.8513,680,75017

All occupations together: 155,495,730 jobs, median pay $50,980 a year ($24.51 an hour).

What the table shows

Official United States statistics sort every occupation into one of 22 major groups, called fields on this site. The table ranks them by the median pay of everyone working in the field. At the top is Management, at $126,520 a year; at the bottom is Food Preparation and Serving Related, at $35,050. The top field's median is 3.6 times the bottom one's.

12 fields have a median above the national figure of $50,980 and 10 are below it. The fields with the most jobs are not the best paid: Office and Administrative Support, Food Preparation and Serving Related and Transportation and Material Moving together hold 29% of all jobs counted. The smallest field by jobs is Farming, Fishing, and Forestry, with 435,200 jobs.

How to use it

A field is a wide grouping, and pay inside one can differ more than pay between two fields. Open a field to see each of its occupations ranked, with the number of jobs, then open an occupation for its pay range and its figures in every state. Occupations are grouped by the work done, not by the kind of employer: a lawyer employed by a factory is counted under legal occupations. Military occupations are not part of this survey.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Checked in November 2026. Figures are for employees, before tax, and leave out overtime pay and benefits. They are official statistics, not advice or a pay offer; see bls.gov/oes for the original tables.