Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jan 29, 2026

The No. 1 job in USA with the ‘best career opportunities’ pays $112,000 a year - and it’s not in tech

The No. 1 job in USA with the ‘best career opportunities’ pays $112,000 a year - and it’s not in tech

‘This list of jobs with great career opportunities is not limited to tech; we see several finance, health-care and marketing roles with strong career paths,’ a new report finds.

Most people want a job that allows them to advance, learn new skills and earn more money. It’s the $112,000 question: How can you have both? Is there a job out there that gives you a six-figure income, and all of that too? As unemployment hovers a 49-year low, there are more professions to choose from that will give people the one thing that gets them out of bed in the morning: a meaningful job with the possibility of advancement.

Access to career momentum opportunities in the workplace is one of the strongest predictors of employee satisfaction based on millions of reviews left on Glassdoor, in addition to culture and values and quality senior leadership, according to a study released Wednesday by the company. “This list of jobs with great career opportunities is not limited to tech; we see several finance, health-care and marketing roles with strong career paths,” the report said.

Tax managers have the strongest career opportunities rating, according to employees in this position. They had a median base salary of $112,021 a year and 4,803 job openings on Glassdoor as of July 5. With the infiltration of technology into financial services, there’s a renewed emphasis for tax managers to build closer client relationships, the report’s authors said.

The report used the following criteria: a median base salary over the past year of $80,000 a year or higher, well above the June 2019 U.S. median annual pay of $53,411, and at least 2,000 job openings as of July 5 on Glassdoor. Employees rated their job on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest level of advancement. Tax manager had a rating of 4.1 compared to the average rating of 3.0 across all jobs on the Glassdoor website. Here’s a list of the top 25.

Tax managers were followed by Salesforce developers ($81,721 a year with 3,193 job openings), product designers ($102,054 a year and 2,045 openings), strategy managers ($142,328 a year and 3,131 openings), HR managers ($84,700 a year and 4,351 openings), audit managers ($102,521 a year and 3,050 openings) and data scientists ($110,160 a year and 6,789 openings).

Read MarketWatch’s Moneyist advice column on the etiquette and ethics of your financial affairs. This week: ‘My dad is difficult and even refuses to use his oxygen tank — will our stepmother get all his money if he dies without a will?’

Data scientists are also in high demand. They ranked No. 1 on Glassdoor’s recent “Best Jobs in America” for 2019 — for the fourth straight year. They boast median base annual salary of $108,000, but Glassdoor also says there are signs their salary growth has been leveling off. They were followed by nursing managers at No. 2 ($83,000), marketing managers at No. 3 ($82,000), occupational therapists at No. 4 ($74,000) and product managers at No. 5 ($115,000).

There were other six-figure jobs on Glassdoor’s top 20 list with a relatively high number of job openings, job satisfaction and earning potential, including DevOps engineers, who work with developers and IT staff to oversee code releases, at No. 6 ($106,000 a year); data engineers at No. 8 ($100,000); software engineers at No. 10 ($104,000); physician assistants at No. 12 ($105,000); strategy managers at No. 16 ($140,000) and security engineers at No. 17 ($102,000).

Data scientists and software developers use programming language such as Python, followed by R, SQL, Hadoop and the more well-known Java, according to Glassdoor. A mid-level data scientist is likely to be proficient in Python, R and SQL, Java, Python and JavaScript and make close to $130,000 a year. Google GOOG, +0.15%, Aetna US:AET and Microsoft MSFT, +0.10%  typically hire people for these roles.

The labor market is getting stronger, judging by the latest jobs figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7% in July and remained near a 50-year low. What’s more, more people entered the labor force in search of work. The labor force participation rate was 63% in July, up slightly from 62.9% in June.

There’s probably never been a better time since the Great Recession to start looking. The U.S. economy added 164,000 new jobs in July, the government recently reported. Analysts polled by MarketWatch predicted 171,000 new jobs last month.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Tesla Ends Model S and X Production and Sends $2 Billion to xAI as 2025 Revenue Declines
Starmer Seeks Economic Gains From China Visit While Navigating US Diplomatic Sensitivities
Starmer Says China Visit Will Deliver Economic Benefits as He Prepares to Meet Xi Jinping
UK Prime Minister Starmer Arrives in China to Bolster Trade and Warn Firms of Strategic Opportunities
The AI Hiring Doom Loop — Algorithmic Recruiting Filters Out Top Talent and Rewards Average or Fake Candidates
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Trump Reverses Course and Criticises UK-Mauritius Chagos Islands Agreement
Elizabeth Hurley Tells UK Court of ‘Brutal’ Invasion of Privacy in Phone Hacking Case
UK Bond Yields Climb as Report Fuels Speculation Over Andy Burnham’s Return to Parliament
Prince William to Make Official Visit to Saudi Arabia in February
Prince Harry Breaks Down in London Court, Says UK Tabloids Have Made Meghan Markle’s Life ‘Absolute Misery’
Malin + Goetz UK Business Enters Administration, All Stores Close
EU and UK Reject Trump’s Greenland-Linked Tariff Threats and Pledge Unified Response
UK Deepfake Crackdown Puts Intense Pressure on Musk’s Grok AI After Surge in Non-Consensual Explicit Images
Prince Harry Becomes Emotional in London Court, Invokes Memory of Princess Diana in Testimony Against UK Tabloids
UK Inflation Rises Unexpectedly but Interest Rate Cuts Still Seen as Likely
Starmer Steps Back from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Amid Strained US–UK Relations
Prince Harry’s Lawyer Tells UK Court Daily Mail Was Complicit in Unlawful Privacy Invasions
UK Government Approves China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London Amid Debate Over Security and Diplomacy
Trump Cites UK’s Chagos Islands Sovereignty Shift as Justification for Pursuing Greenland Acquisition
UK Government Weighs Australia-Style Social Media Ban for Under-Sixteens Amid Rising Concern Over Online Harm
Trump Aides Say U.S. Has Discussed Offering Asylum to British Jews Amid Growing Antisemitism Concerns
UK Seeks Diplomatic De-escalation with Trump Over Greenland Tariff Threat
Prince Harry Returns to London as High Court Trial Begins Over Alleged Illegal Tabloid Snooping
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
The graduate 'jobpocalypse': Entry-level jobs are not shrinking. They are disappearing.
Cybercrime, Inc.: When Crime Becomes an Economy. How the World Accidentally Built a Twenty-Trillion-Dollar Criminal Economy
×