{"id":473317,"date":"2025-12-26T18:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473317\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T18:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:24:15","slug":"the-15-highest-paying-jobs-you-can-land-without-a-4-year-degree-says-new-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473317\/","title":{"rendered":"The 15 highest-paying jobs you can land without a 4-year degree, says new report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting a bachelor’s degree<\/a> isn’t the only way to land a lucrative job anymore. <\/p>\n

Resume Genius’s latest report identified the jobs that offer the highest pay without requiring a four-year college degree, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> demonstrates that “there’s no one way to get a high-paying job,” according to Resume Genius career expert Eva Chan. <\/p>\n

“All of the jobs do have some degree of training, some have schooling, but they’re all very attainable without a degree,” she says.<\/p>\n

Blue-collar jobs<\/a> like electrical power-line installer and repairer are becoming increasingly popular<\/a>, according to Chan.<\/p>\n

“Maybe 10 to 15 years ago, they weren’t seen as lucrative,” Chan says, but more people are realizing that blue-collar roles and skilled trades can offer “high pay” and plenty of growth opportunities.<\/p>\n

Management and sales roles like insurance sales agent are ideal for people who have strong interpersonal skills<\/a>, according to Chan.<\/p>\n

“Your pay can increase pretty quickly if you’re consistent and you’re good with building relationships,” she says. <\/p>\n

According to Resume Genius, these are the 15 highest-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree, as well as each job’s median annual salary, median hourly wage and estimated job growth<\/a> over the next decade.<\/p>\n

1. Elevator and escalator installer and repairer
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $106,580
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $51.24
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 5%<\/p>\n

2. Transportation, storage, and distribution manager
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $102,010
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $49.05
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 6%<\/p>\n

3. Electrical power-line installer and repairer
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $92,560
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $44.50
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 7%<\/p>\n

4. Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanic and technician
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $79,140
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $38.05
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 5%<\/p>\n

5. Detective and criminal investigator
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $77,270
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $37.15
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 3%<\/p>\n

6. Locomotive engineer
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $75,680
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $36.38
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 1%<\/p>\n

7. Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $74,100
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $35.63
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 1%<\/p>\n

8. Flight attendant
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $67,130
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $32.27
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 9%<\/p>\n

9. Property, real estate, and community association manager
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $66,700
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $32.07
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 4%<\/p>\n

10. Water transportation worker
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $66,490
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $31.97
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 1%<\/p>\n

11. Food service manager
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $65,310
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $31.40
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 6%<\/p>\n

12. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technician
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $62,740
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $30.16
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 6%<\/p>\n

13. Athlete and sports competitor
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $62,360
<\/a>Median hourly wage: N\/A
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 5%<\/p>\n

14. Chef and head cook
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $60,990
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $29.32
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 7%<\/p>\n

15. Insurance sales agent
<\/strong>Median annual salary: $60,370
<\/a>Median hourly wage: $29.02
Estimated job growth 2024\u20132034: 4%<\/p>\n

These jobs may not require traditional four-year degrees<\/a>, but they do require “real skills and real training,” Chan says. <\/p>\n

She advises job seekers to research the role and “look into the potential schooling that you’ll need.”<\/p>\n

“You might need licenses, you might need a certification or you might just need years of experience or a little bit of training,” she says. <\/p>\n

Many of these jobs also have clear paths for career progression<\/a>, Chan says, which is “really compelling” for people who are looking for reliability and steady growth.<\/p>\n

“A lot of these jobs aren’t that flashy or widely talked about,” she says, “but they do exist, and they have strong pay and keep essential systems running.”<\/p>\n

Want to give your kids the ultimate advantage?<\/strong> Sign up for CNBC’s new online course,\u00a0How to Raise Financially Smart Kids<\/a>. Learn how to build healthy financial habits today to set your children up for greater success in the future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting a bachelor’s degree isn’t the only way to land a lucrative job anymore. Resume Genius’s latest report…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":473318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7890,64,7891,84806,27498,7889,7895,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-473317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-articles","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-make-it","11":"tag-make-it-land-the-job","12":"tag-make-it-work","13":"tag-makeit","14":"tag-sourcetagnamecnbc-us-source","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115787272318879582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}