Highest paying jobs without a degree
Occupations the federal government classifies as requiring no formal educational credential — no diploma, no certificate — ranked by median pay. Wages are Bureau of Labor Statistics medians for May 2025; entry requirements come from the federal Employment Projections classification.
| Occupation | Median | Top 10% | Training | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Athletes and Sports Competitors | $66,710 | $742,310 | Long-term on-the-job training | 15,070 |
| 2 Postal Service Clerks | $62,130 | $75,030 | Short-term on-the-job training | 73,720 |
| 3 Postal Service Mail Carriers | $60,550 | $81,040 | Short-term on-the-job training | 328,820 |
| 4 Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers | $58,930 | $102,010 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 83,080 |
| 5 Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators | $58,470 | $75,280 | Short-term on-the-job training | 105,200 |
| 6 Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas | $58,160 | $97,560 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 43,140 |
| 7 Plasterers and Stucco Masons | $57,660 | $96,710 | Long-term on-the-job training | 19,310 |
| 8 Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers | $57,020 | $85,480 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 206,170 |
| 9 Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles | $56,460 | $96,700 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 23,640 |
| 10 Tile and Stone Setters | $55,690 | $86,110 | Long-term on-the-job training | 35,850 |
| 11 Roofers | $55,440 | $81,720 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 135,490 |
| 12 Sailors and Marine Oilers | $51,520 | $83,620 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 31,670 |
| 13 Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors | $49,690 | $75,900 | Short-term on-the-job training | 147,240 |
| 14 Painters, Construction and Maintenance | $49,400 | $78,810 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 225,190 |
| 15 Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall | $49,120 | $78,190 | Short-term on-the-job training | 44,440 |
| 16 Pipelayers | $49,000 | $80,170 | Short-term on-the-job training | 33,050 |
| 17 Fence Erectors | $47,980 | $70,010 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 24,480 |
| 18 Construction Laborers | $47,120 | $78,090 | Short-term on-the-job training | 1,096,780 |
| 19 Roustabouts, Oil and Gas | $46,960 | $64,530 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 44,970 |
| 20 Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators | $46,420 | $62,520 | Short-term on-the-job training | 774,420 |
| 21 Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders | $44,810 | $62,680 | Moderate-term on-the-job training | 20,370 |
| 22 Building Cleaning Workers, All Other | $44,040 | $64,030 | Short-term on-the-job training | 17,210 |
| 23 Helpers--Carpenters | $43,780 | $57,670 | Short-term on-the-job training | 21,680 |
| 24 Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other | $42,670 | $60,080 | Short-term on-the-job training | 24,770 |
| 25 Conveyor Operators and Tenders | $42,420 | $59,470 | Short-term on-the-job training | 22,930 |
Reading this ranking
Athletes and Sports Competitors tops the list at $66,710. The midpoint of this ranking is $49,690, so the leader pays 34% more than a typical entry on it — a normal spread for a ranking of this kind.
12 of the 25 listed reach competence through short-term on-the-job training. That is the actual entry route for this group — the qualification is not what gets you in, the training is.
Pay inside a single occupation varies more than people expect. For athletes and sports competitors, the bottom tenth earn $26,500 and the top tenth $742,310 — 28× apart. A ranking like this shows the middle; the band is where your own outcome sits.
76 occupations match this filter; the 25 shown are those with at least 15,000 people employed nationally. Smaller occupations are excluded because a national median drawn from a few thousand workers is not a reliable guide.
Other entry routes
Where these jobs pay most
Every figure above is a national median. The same occupation can pay two or three times more in one metropolitan area than another — the salary guides break each one down by metro.
About the data
Two federal datasets are joined here. Wages come from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey of employers. Entry requirements — education, training and prior experience — come from the Employment Projections programme, which assigns each occupation the level typically needed to enter it. “Typically” is doing real work in that sentence: individual employers set their own bars, and plenty hire above or below the classification.