The 10 Best Jobs in America
When the going got tough in the job market in the past few years, many employees were forced to just stick it out no matter how frustrated they were about their pay or workload. Well, let's just say all that hunkering down has left many employees with cabin fever.
"Look for a new job" was one of the top new year's resolutions of 2013, with one in three employees (33 percent) telling Glassdoor.com that they were looking to jump ship this year.
Before you go blasting out the resume, you might want to take a look at the jobs landscape.
CareerCast is out with their annual list of the and 10 Worst Jobs of 2013. They took a look at 200 jobs and ranked them based on a variety of criteria, including income, outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands.
So, what are the best jobs?
"Overall, what you see is most of the jobs break up into two categories — high tech and health care," said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com. "A lot of the health care, and even some of the non-health care, tie in … to the aging population. Almost every one of these jobs with a couple exceptions are benefiting from aging baby boomers."
Click ahead for the 10 Best Jobs for 2013, the midlevel income and whether the job moved up or down from last year's list.
By Cindy Perman
Posted 22 April 2013
10. Computer Systems Analyst
Salary: $77,740
Change From 2012: Down 1
A computer-systems analyst reviews system use at thecompany — do they have the right equipment and bandwidth fortheir users? They are monitoring systems and usage and thenmake recommendations.
This job always tends to rank high, Lee said,because companies will always have demand for computer-systemsanalysis with the ever-changing needs of their organization andever-changing technology.
9. Physical Therapist
Salary: $76,310
Change From 2012: Up 3
Physical therapists help patients recover from a variety of ailments, with a focus on improving their quality of life. It's physical movement, psychological and emotional well-being. Patients include everyone from a victim of a car accident to an elderly person struggling with mobility issues.
"With the elderly population, there's great demand" for physical therapists, Lee said. "A lot of folks suffer from mobility issues — be it hip replacement, knee replacement, etc."
This job scores high because it has a good hiring outlook and low stress.
8. Optometrist
Salary: $94,990
Change From 2012: Up 4
Optometrists are eye doctors, managing everything to do with sight and eye care.
This job scores high because they have a good work environment, there's a lot of demand given the aging population, the job growth is good and the median salary is high.
7. Occupational Therapist
Salary: $72,320
Change From 2012: No Change
Occupational therapists are different from physical therapists in that they are focused on helping a patient recover to a point where he or she can get back to their job. This can be anything from an office worker suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome to a construction worker who had a brick fall on them.
This job scores high because it's low stress, the hiring outlook is good and the median salary is high.
6. Dental Hygienist
Salary: $68,250
Change From 2012: Down 2
Dental hygienists are the employees who help the dentist with everything from exams to cleanings.
You might think it's gross to put your fingers in someone else's mouth, but if you talk to them, Lee said, they love their jobs. They get to talk to people every day, have flexible schedules and make good money.
This job scores high because it's low stress, the hiring outlook is good and the median salary is decent.
5. Financial Planner
Salary: $64,750
Change From 2012: No Change
Financial planners manage people's money and retirement plan for them. There has always been demand for financial planners but that demand increased during the recession when so many people saw their life savings start to evaporate with the stock market.
"People were banking on the value of their home and it collapsed. They were banking on the value of their IRA and they find out — 'I'm ill-prepared and I need help,'" Lee said.
This job scores high because of the income, hiring outlook and physical environment.
4. Audiologist
Salary: $66,660
Change From 2012: Up 2
Audiologists are doctors focused on helping a patient with their hearing and balance. And once again, this job is in demand due to the aging population. Adding to the demand, Lee said, is that this profession really exploded in the 1960s and now those audiologists are retiring — and there aren't as many people nowadays who want to be audiologists to fill that demand.
The job scores high because it's low stress, has a very strong hiring outlook and very good income.
3. Software Engineer
Salary: $90,530
Change From 2012: Down 2
Software engineers are the guys (and ladies) who write software code that runs an application.
"Whether it's purchasing something, mapping something, watching a video or something — a software engineer somewhere wrote that code and continues to update that code."
There has always been demand, Lee said, and with the rising popularity of cloud computing, there's even more demand.
This job scores high for the high income and strong outlook and low stress.
2. Biomedical Engineer
Salary: $81,540
Change From 2012: New in 2013
Biomedical engineers analyze medical equipment, medical systems, imaging systems — everything to help a physician do his or her job.
This job scores high because the hiring outlook is very strong.
1. Actuary
Salary: $87,650
Change From 2012: Up 1
And the best job for 2013 is … actuary!
Actuaries are skilled in math and statistics and it's their job to figure out how long things will last — everything from measuring when a person might need insurance to when they'll tap their IRA.
"Anything that uses statistical analysis to determine when something is going to happen," Lee said.
This job scores high because of income and the job outlook. There is still a shortage of actuaries, Lee said.
Read More:
The 10 Worst Jobs for 2013