2018 Best Jobs – U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, today unveiled the 2018 Best Jobs. The rankings offer a look at the year’s best jobs across 15 categories – from best-paying jobs to sectors such as business and technology – to help job seekers at every level achieve their career goals. The rankings take into account the most important aspects of a job, including growth potential, work-life balance and salary.
This year, Software Developer takes the No. 1 spot as the Best Job overall. Dentist ranks at No. 2, followed by physician assistant at No. 3 and nurse practitioner at No. 4. This is the first time since 2015 that a health care job has not topped the list, though health care positions continue to dominate the 2018 rankings due to a combination of high salaries and low unemployment rates. In addition to taking 47 of the 100 Best Jobs, the majority of the Best-Paying Jobs are also in health care. With an average salary of $269,600, anesthesiologist tops the list, followed by surgeon at No. 2 and obstetrician and gynecologist at No. 3.
“Health care jobs are prominent on our list year after year and are predicted to continue growing rapidly within the job market by 2026,” said Rebecca Koenig, careers reporter at U.S. News. “Health care goes beyond doctors and nursing professions – there is high demand for people to fill positions available in health care technology, at hospitals and elsewhere within the industry that tap into a variety of the categories we rank and that offer a low unemployment rate, a high median salary and robust job growth.”
Information Security Analyst (No. 32), IT Manager (No. 42), and Computer Systems Analyst (No. 46) also made the overall Best Jobs list, as problem-solving skills in technology and data analytics are necessary and in high demand across most industries today.
“Technology is the backbone of many of our jobs across the board this year,” said Kim Castro, executive editor at U.S. News. “Nearly every type of company is looking for people who can analyze and interpret data to solve problems. This technological boom is creating new opportunities for statisticians, engineers and software developers – these workers are developing the algorithms that are rapidly changing the global job market.”
The 2018 Best Jobs rankings offer job seekers detailed information on training and education requirements, median salary and job satisfaction across diverse sectors, including social services, education, construction and creative and media. For individuals interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering and math, also known as the STEM fields, U.S. News also compiles the Best STEM Jobs.
To calculate Best Jobs, U.S. News draws data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify jobs with the greatest hiring demand. Jobs are then scored using seven component measures: 10-year growth volume, 10-year growth percentage, median salary, employment rate, future job prospects, stress level and work-life balance. For further details on how the rankings were calculated, see the methodology.
To follow the conversation on social media, explore Facebook and Twitter using #BestJobs. U.S. News will also host its “Workforce of Tomorrow” summit April 4-6, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Committed to examining and advancing solutions for a STEM skilled workforce, the U.S. News STEM Solutions Presents: Workforce of Tomorrow conference is the preeminent conference for leaders in education, policy and workforce development. To learn more, visit USNewsSTEMsolutions.com.
2018 U.S. News Best Jobs Rankings
*See the full list of the Best Jobs here.
- Software Developer
- Dentist
- Physician Assistant
- Nurse Practitioner
- Orthodontist
- Anesthesiologist
- Surgeon
- Obstetrician and Gynecologist
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
- Orthodontist
- Dentist
- Physician Assistant
- Nurse Practitioner
- Orthodontist
- Pediatrician
- Statistician
- Actuary
- Mathematician
- Cost Estimator
- Business Operations Manager
