What Are the Best Jobs of 2015?

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”—Oscar Wilde

I give my physician-dad a lot of credit. He was able to strike the proper balance between business and life (a laudable trait that I see in my daughter). Dad earned a top income and enjoyed his work too. But it looks like today’s physicians are having a harder time.

Most physicians will admit to being very unhappy with the state of their profession, and yet, they comprise the three highest-paid professions in the United States, according to a new jobs report. And income figures for doctors will continue to climb. All three medical specialties can expect near 20% wage growth through 2022.

These compensation figures come from the CareerCast.com 2015 Jobs Rated report. “Wage stagnation has not been a problem for jobs in healthcare,” according to CareerCast officials. “One of the job market’s two steadiest industries of the past decade, along with information technology, healthcare has seen consistent growth in wages in recent years.”

The following are the 10 highest paying jobs of 2015, according to CareerCast.com. It’s noteworthy that most in the top 10 are employed in the healthcare area or in one that is strongly allied to it.

1. Surgeon, $352,220

2. Psychiatrist, $181,880

3. Physician (primary care), $180,180

4. Corporate Executive (senior level), 173,320

5. Dentist, $146,340

6. Petroleum Engineer, $130,050

7. Orthodontist, $129,110

8. Data Scientist, $124,150

9. Air Traffic Controller, $122,340

10. Pharmacist, $120,950

When it comes to overall job satisfaction, however, physicians don’t do nearly as well. They’re back in the pack, according this rating of 200 occupations nationwide. The most content medial professionals are psychiatrists (they ranked 47^th), followed by primary care doctors (they came in at number 83).

In evaluating job quality CareerCast.com reviewers looked at four major categories inherent to every job: environment, income, outlook, and stress. Here is the 2015 top 10 list of best jobs (along with their annual incomes, which are all decent):

1. Actuary, $94,209

2. Audiologist, $71,133

3. Mathematician, $102,182

4. Statistician, $79,191

5. Biomedical Engineer, $89,165

6. Data Scientist, $124,150

7. Dental Hygienist, $71,102

8. Software Engineer, $93,113

9. Occupational Therapist, $77,114

10. Computer Systems Analyst, $81,150

As for the worst jobs, there’s some nobility in that group too. The number one worst job rated for 2015 was my old stomping ground—newspaper reporter. Even as I have migrated to the web for all my writing, I feel their pain. Filling out the top 5 worst jobs in the nation was lumberjack, enlisted military, cook, and broadcaster.

More comprehensive jobs rating detail is available through the CareerCast.com Jobs Rated Almanac: The Best Jobs and How to Get Them.

(Note: All incomes are median annual wages and come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The US median wage in 2015 is $34,750.)