For the second year in a row, jobs in the healthcare field dominated U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the 100 Best Jobs, occupying six of the top 10 slots.
The publication ranks its best jobs based on a combination of salary, work-life balance, stress levels and room for advancement. Its top five jobs in the healthcare field for 2016 are:
- Nurse anesthetist (#4 on the overall list) for predicted growth of 19 percent by 2023, a median salary of $153,780 and even higher median paychecks in some metropolitan areas, such as San Antonio and Las Vegas.
- Physician assistant (#5 on the overall list), predicted to grow by 30 percent in the next eight years, with a median salary of $95,820, although some make as much as $114,000, the publication noted.
- Nurse practitioner (NP) (#6 on the overall list), with a median salary of $95,350 and a predicted spike in demand in the near future due to primary care provider shortages. This projected demand has led to an increased push to remove scope-of-practice restrictions for the NP field, FierceHealthcare previously reported.
- Pediatrician (#8 on the overall list), with a median salary of $163,350 and projected growth of 10 percent between now and 2024.
- Anesthesiologist (#9 on the overall list), which is projected to grow by 21 percent by 2024 and is also ranked the #1 best-paying overall job, with a median salary of $187,199.
The rankings feature numerous shakeups compared to last year's list, in which NPs ranked as the top healthcare job and the #2 job overall, whereas physicians, the healthcare runner-up and #4 job overall, fell out of the healthcare top five entirely, coming in at #10 for healthcare and #19 overall.
To learn more:
- read the rankings