20. Property, real estate, and community association managers
MoMo Productions/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 11,100
Median annual wage in May 2021: $59,230
On-the-job training: None
19. Mobile heavy equipment mechanics (except engines)
Tomasz Zajda / EyeEm/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 11,600
Median annual wage in May 2021: $58,030
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training
18. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers
Akarawut/Shutterstock
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 12,200
Median annual wage in May 2021: $61,790
On-the-job training: None
17. Production, planning, and expediting clerks
alvarez/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 18,900
Median annual wage in May 2021: $48,040
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
16. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators
ozgurdonmaz/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 19,300
Median annual wage in May 2021: $48,360
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
15. Carpenters
Halfpoint Images/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 20,500
Median annual wage in May 2021: $48,260
On-the-job training: Apprenticeship
14. Real estate sales agents
The Good Brigade/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 23,100
Median annual wage in May 2021: $48,340
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
13. Chefs and head cooks
Westend61/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 23,600
Median annual wage in May 2021: $50,160
On-the-job training: None
12. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers
stevecoleimages/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 12,700
Median annual wage in May 2021: $98,230
On-the-job training: None
11. Flight attendants
Robert Alexander/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 22,100
Median annual wage in May 2021: $61,640
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
10. Police and sheriff's patrol officers
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 21,500
Median annual wage in May 2021: $64,610
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
9. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers
JohnnyGreig/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 19,800
Median annual wage in May 2021: $71,260
On-the-job training: None
8. Insurance sales agents
fizkes/Shutterstock
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 32,900
Median annual wage in May 2021: $49,840
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
7. First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors
Fertnig/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 31,000
Median annual wage in May 2021: $54,850
On-the-job training: None
6. Food service managers
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 32,300
Median annual wage in May 2021: $59,440
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training
5. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers
Getty Images / Jeff Pachoud
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 29,900
Median annual wage in May 2021: $72,010
On-the-job training: None
4. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products
Morsa Images/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 48,900
Median annual wage in May 2021: $61,600
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
3. Electricians
ftwitty/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 50,200
Median annual wage in May 2021: $60,040
On-the-job training: Apprenticeship
2. Industrial machinery mechanics
Nitat Termmee/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 63,100
Median annual wage in May 2021: $59,840
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training
1. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel
Katleho Seisa/Getty Images
Projected change in employment from 2021 to 2031: 71,400
Median annual wage in May 2021: $60,550
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
How we ranked the above occupations
Not every job that pays higher than the median annual wage and is projected to see job growth over the decade requires a college education.
For this ranking, Insider first took the geometric mean of median annual wages and projected employment growth from 2021 to 2031 using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Because we were interested in jobs that pay at least the median annual wage, we excluded jobs that paid less than $45,760 a year, the median wage for all occupations in 2021 per data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Home health and personal care aides, which has a typical education requirement of a high school diploma or equivalent, are projected to grow the most between 2021 and 2031 with over 924,000 new jobs. But this occupation pays $29,430, $16,330 less than the median wage in 2021. Therefore, it's one job that was excluded in our analysis of high-paying, growing jobs.
After putting together our overall list of high-paying, growing jobs , we filtered our list so only occupations that typically need a high school diploma or equivalent for entry were left. We ranked those based on their geometric mean, where a higher geometric means a higher spot on the list.
In addition to median annual wages and projected change in employment, we included above on-the-job training for each occupation. This comes from six categories listed by BLS and can range from no on-the job-training to long-term on-the-job training, the latter taking over 12 months.
