10 of the fastest-growing, best-paying jobs in the US

Nurses are breathing life into the US economy.
Nurses are breathing life into the US economy.
Image: Reuters/Jonathan Bachman
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Make your career moves healthy ones. In the US, you can bet on health care or management.

That’s the message from a new US Bureau of Labor Statistics (pdf) report forecasting that health care will account for one-third of the 15.6 million new US jobs created in the next decade.

US employers will add 526,800 new registered nurses to their payrolls from 2012 to 2022, and another 182,900 licensed vocational nurses—both with growth rates that are twice the overall 10.8% gain in jobs over that period.

Here are 10 of the fastest growing jobs that pay well, as identified by the BLS. Also included is 10-year growth rate and median pay for each occupation:

  • Diagnostic medical sonographer    46.0%, $65,860
  • Physical therapists    36.0%     $79,860
  • Physician assistants    38.4%   $90,930
  • Dental hygenists    33.3%    $70,210
  • Nurse practitioners     33.7%    $89,960
  • Registered nurses   19.4%   pay: $65,470
  • Information security analysts   36.5%   $86,170
  • Market research analysts & marketing specialists   31.6%  $60,300
  • General and operations managers    12.4%  $95,440
  • Interpreters and translators    46.1%   $45,430

Quartz left out plenty of fast growing jobs that don’t pay very well, including home health aide and brickmason helper.