Jobs that don't ask for a degree.

• Electrician

  Median pay $63,190

  About 4 years, paid from day one

• Truck driver (CDL-A)

  Median pay $58,640

  3 to 7 weeks full-time

• Medical assistant

  Median pay $45,690

  9 to 12 months

• IT support specialist

  Median pay $61,860

  About 6 months at 10 hours a week

• Real estate agent

  Median pay $52,830

  2 to 6 months, self-paced online courses are common

• HVAC technician

  Median pay $61,010

  6 to 12 months for a certificate; 3 to 5 years for a full apprenticeship

• Certified nursing assistant

  Median pay $42,260

  4 to 12 weeks

• Pharmacy technician

  Median pay $45,750

  2 to 6 months of study, or on-the-job training

Pay data, ranked

• Highest-paying jobs without a bachelor’s degree

  The 50 best-paid of the 541 occupations BLS says typically need less than a bachelor’s, ranked by median pay.

• $30-an-hour jobs without a degree, by state

  Which occupations clear $30 an hour at the median in your state, with local pay for each.

How to read these pages

1. 1

   Pay is what people earn now

   Every pay figure is the median for people already working in the occupation, from the federal wage survey. It is not an offer, and entry pay is lower. The percentiles on each page show the spread.

2. 2

   We say when a degree still matters

   Some of these careers are labeled by the government as typically needing a bachelor’s. Those pages say so at the top, and show how many workers in the job hold no bachelor’s.

3. 3

   The numbers are checkable

   Each occupation page cites the BLS median and percentile wages, the typical entry education, and the share of workers in the job who have no bachelor’s degree.