Survey: Highest-paying entry-level jobs in the US are predominantly STEM-related
Marie Donlon | May 23, 2019As a new crop of college graduates make their way into the workforce, a GoBankingRates survey has determined the top 30 highest paying entry-level job titles. According to the survey, the majority of those titles are in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
Based on 2018 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the survey suggests that pay grades for entry-level jobs for recent graduates of four-year schools with little to no work-related experience include the following:
- Petroleum engineers (Median 2018 pay $137,170)
- Aerospace engineers (Median 2018 pay: $115,220)
- Computer hardware engineers (Median 2018 pay: $114,600)
- Software developers, systems software (Median 2018 pay: $110,000)
- Nuclear engineers (Median 2018 pay: $107,600)
- Chemical engineers (Median 2018 pay: $104,910)
- Software developers, applications (Median 2018 pay: $103,620)
- Electronics engineers, except computer (Median 2018 pay: $102,700)
- Materials scientists (Median 2018 pay: $99,800)
- Electrical engineers (Median 2018 pay: $96,640)
- Atmospheric scientists (Median 2018 pay: $94,110)
- Marine engineers and naval architects (Median 2018 pay: $92,560)
- Materials engineers (Median 2018 pay: $92,390)
- Mining and geological engineers (Median 2018 pay: $92,250)
- Geoscientists (Median 2018 pay: $91,130)
- Database administrators (Median 2018 pay: $90,070)
- Health and safety engineers (Median 2018 pay: $89,130)
- Computer systems analysts (Median 2018 pay: $88,740)
- Biomedical engineers (Median 2018 pay: $88,550)
- Environmental engineers (Median 2018 pay: $87,620)
- Mechanical engineers (Median 2018 pay: $87,370)
- Industrial engineers (Median 2018 pay: $87,040)
- Civil engineers (Median 2018 pay: $86,640)
- Financial analysts (Median 2018 pay: $85,660)
- Computer programmers (Median 2018 pay: $84,280)
- Operations research analysts (Median 2018 pay: $83,390)
- Radiation therapists (Median 2018 pay: $82,330)
- Network and computer systems administrators (Median 2018 pay: $82,050)
- Geographers (Median 2018 pay: $80,300)
- Hydrologists (Median 2018 pay: $79,370)
Those numbers look high for fresh-outs.