The guys who climb radio antennas for repairs. Relatively little technical knowledge required, just climbing all day, follow some hardware instructions, climb down by nightfall. Knew a guy who earned low six figures that way
I live in a community where half the home owners are high dollar white collar employees (oil and gas engineers, etc).
The other half? Roofers and Realtors.
I didn’t know that PMs in the residential roofing space made that kind of money, but they do. They get winters off also (but summers are 60 hour weeks)
If you enter with the right mentality and plan, fast food.
It’s an international trope that the fast food employee is the epitome of entry level/dead end job. But if you stick around and are a genuinely hardworking employee with a plan it can become a very legitimate career.
You can go from minimum wage not even getting by fry scooper to a regional manager with an Audi and stock options inside of a decade if that’s what you’re planning to do. No cost to you, no student loans or need for a traditional degree, though they will send you to their management schools. Key words, send you so that’s great too.
Caveat is the road there is miserable and the social stigma of being an adult McDonald’s cook is crushing but if you can get over that, it’s a great option.
My youngest daughter’s girlfriend, who is 30, started at Amazon as a sorter/truck loader then got her CDL. Drove for 3 years and they started her in management. With just a high school degree she grossed 256,000 last year here in the midwest as a regional manager
Anyone in the oil and gas industry. Talked to a forklift driver that told me his story of serving a prison sentence and couldn’t find anyone willing to hire a felon when he got out. He left Mississippi for west Texas and was now making >$100k
Lineman, the people who climb and work on power lines.
My trash neighbor does that, probably makes as much as me and my husband combined, and we both make good money. According to Pew, top 20% income in our area.
Unionized Library pay is significantly better than you expect. Seattle Public Library workers make shy of 30 an hour to start as a regular clerk. Considering that these days library staff is part social worker, part security guard, part grunt, part baby sitter, they should be fairly compensated. Its not just books and borrowing anymore, and it goes up from there. People who are Librarians in title AND degree make significantly more than the national average under the union system than non-union.
(in my district librarians make anywhere from 65K-75K a year while clerks make ~40-50k. Seattle STARTS librarians at 75K-85K and they can move up over 100k in a handful of years.)
Depending on where you come from, the military. I grew up in the rural Midwest, where the average salary was about $35k a year. As a Captian, I make about $110k pre tax between my base salary, allowances and special pay. I own a house I got no money down through the VA and I have a masters degree I paid about $1200 for in total. Layered with some other academic scholarships, I have paid maybe $5000 for my entire post high school education.
Most army locations are in LCOL areas (very much a double edged sword) and if in a HCOL location, you get cost of living increases.
The military is a cheat code to raising your living standards if you’re willing to put up with the lifestyle.
I know a guy who worked as a transport driver for medical samples tests medications etc and was making well over 100 and probably close to 200 by now. The medical field will pay almost anything for someone reliable but his issue was he had to find his own clients.
My girlfriend is a traveling nurse. She makes stupid cash and sets her own travel dates. If she’s feeling burned out she just takes a month off and still has plenty left over for bills and fun stuff
As I near retirement I realize that the military actually pays very well when you account for all of the benefits. Get into a service that actually cares for their people and in a role that doesn’t really involve getting shot at and you can have a great career. Yes it sucks moving every 3-5 years, but I also see many people staying in locations for 10+ years.
Take me for example, E-6 at 17 years and most calculators say I earn the equivalent of $100-112k. I would push that to the high end as I have my housing and utilities covered, zero out of pocket expenses for my two boys therapy needs and a pension once I retire at 20.
Retail employees but this is can be very regional and company dependent. My SO is a regional manager and his store managers make over $100k starting. Hourly employees make $21/hr plus a generous commission so a part timer can easily earn $60/year+. Part time employees also receive benefits and tuition reimbursement.
Anesthesiologist has always surprised me. Obviously medicine pays, but there’s a variety of specialties. Generalists and pediatricians probably make around $250k since there’s a little less risk in their day to day. Of course, surgeons make way more. But anesthesiologists make a remarkable amount of money for really only being in a sit and watch position for 99% of the procedure. I’ve seen numbers as high as $800k. I guess they do have a high risk since anesthesia can be dangerous, but I never associated them with high pay since they’re usually just sitting around once you’re asleep.
Close to $78k average salary in NC for an electrical lineman. You can get some training at some NC community colleges but it’s not something that requires a degree. Lots of blue collar jobs pay well like welder etc.
Welders in general make a lot of money, Union welders make a ton of money.
Construction workers in general if they’re in a union make Bank. I haven’t met a single one that isn’t a secret millionaire after 5 to 10 years of working.
A lot of cops are the highest paid employees in their city. Mostly because of large amount of OT but a lot of that OT is essentially sleeping in a cruiser overnight.
Dermatologist. My BIL is making $440k a year in a MCOL area working 4 days a week. This is only 3 years out of residency. He’s already paid off his $350k in student loans. His plan is to work for ten years and retire before he’s 40.
Meanwhile I have more education, work longer hours in a more specialized field, but since I’m a public servant, I only make $80k. I made some poor life choices….
"Maintenance" positions in some places. A glorified term for janitorial work which is often viewed as a minimum wage position. But not necessarily the case. Hourly wage is not far off from other positions but requires less work and effort. Especially when done as a roughly lateral move by someone with seniority.
When I found out how much the store manager made at the grocery store I worked at in the 90s, my mind was blown. He was doing 6 figures then in a small farming town. That was without bonuses.
Trade jobs can do very well, but people still look down on them.
My brother is a plumber and makes about $300k a year. All he does is replace water heaters. Nobody believes me when I tell them this unless they have recently paid to replaced a water heater.
State nursing jobs. Dependent on your state obviously, but it’s a pension job with benefits and generally the type of nursing you’re doing is nothing compared to Trauma 1s or your local ED. I work with Tuberculosis so D.O.T. Nursing and home health could be included in this. Most days I don’t feel like I worked since I just play dominoes and watch movies with TB patients getting paid 60-70K/yr with OT opportunities as an LVN. I’m lucky to even find LVN positions that still want us vs actually paying more than 40K.
Some experiences vary as some states hate investing into health programs or have different priorities so compared to other states, everything I said before could be straight out my butt.
Food service is easy to get promoted in and hit 6 figures without a degree or waiting till your 40. You just have to get your bosses to like you. But ive known people to hit 6 figures by 30 in food.
My husband (turning 37 this year) is a plumber and makes right under 6 figures a year. He also just recently got an 8k bonus for being their top employee. Granted, he did bust his ass for quite a few years digging trenches and hauling water heaters up and down multiple flights of stairs and other ungodly shit that only plumbers see….but now he just does all the diagnostics and has the younger guys do the heavy lifting. It’s wild to me sometimes when I think about the fact that we’re way better off than our parents were at our age, but I’m also insanely grateful for it.
Janitors. Know two myself, one works at a school district, another at a factory. They make 28 and 33 an hour respectively.
I myself am a "Master Clean" person at the same factory, we clean and sanitize the specialized equipment (we make food) and I get 35. Not quite a janitor though. The guy who cleans floors and bathrooms gets the aforementioned 33.
No experience required. In an area where 20-22 is considered doing well. I personally do about 4 hours of actual work a week but get paid my 4 or 5 day, 12 hours shifts anyway, I just got to be around in case. So much Steam Deck time its actually getting worn down both physically and the battery.
Comments
Probably a trade, like construction, welding, plumbing, etc.
Garbage truck driver.
Small town police officers in the Northeast can make some pretty ludicrous salaries
UPS Driver
The guys who climb radio antennas for repairs. Relatively little technical knowledge required, just climbing all day, follow some hardware instructions, climb down by nightfall. Knew a guy who earned low six figures that way
Pest control. Source: I work pest control.
Facilities
Dental hygienist
I live in a community where half the home owners are high dollar white collar employees (oil and gas engineers, etc).
The other half? Roofers and Realtors.
I didn’t know that PMs in the residential roofing space made that kind of money, but they do. They get winters off also (but summers are 60 hour weeks)
If you enter with the right mentality and plan, fast food.
It’s an international trope that the fast food employee is the epitome of entry level/dead end job. But if you stick around and are a genuinely hardworking employee with a plan it can become a very legitimate career.
You can go from minimum wage not even getting by fry scooper to a regional manager with an Audi and stock options inside of a decade if that’s what you’re planning to do. No cost to you, no student loans or need for a traditional degree, though they will send you to their management schools. Key words, send you so that’s great too.
Caveat is the road there is miserable and the social stigma of being an adult McDonald’s cook is crushing but if you can get over that, it’s a great option.
Tug boat operator
Pretty easy to clear $100k as a firefighter in the suburbs
A lot of trade jobs pay very well.
My youngest daughter’s girlfriend, who is 30, started at Amazon as a sorter/truck loader then got her CDL. Drove for 3 years and they started her in management. With just a high school degree she grossed 256,000 last year here in the midwest as a regional manager
Anyone in the oil and gas industry. Talked to a forklift driver that told me his story of serving a prison sentence and couldn’t find anyone willing to hire a felon when he got out. He left Mississippi for west Texas and was now making >$100k
Going door to door or standing on a street corner for political work can probably get you close to $2,000 a week if you do it every day in some places
Retail/food service management (store manager and above) can pull a great salary if you work for the right company.
Lineman
Lineman, the people who climb and work on power lines.
My trash neighbor does that, probably makes as much as me and my husband combined, and we both make good money. According to Pew, top 20% income in our area.
HVAC
Most all trades.
People will go to college and then work then service jobs and never consider trades… baffling
Ultrasound technician
Unionized Library pay is significantly better than you expect. Seattle Public Library workers make shy of 30 an hour to start as a regular clerk. Considering that these days library staff is part social worker, part security guard, part grunt, part baby sitter, they should be fairly compensated. Its not just books and borrowing anymore, and it goes up from there. People who are Librarians in title AND degree make significantly more than the national average under the union system than non-union.
(in my district librarians make anywhere from 65K-75K a year while clerks make ~40-50k. Seattle STARTS librarians at 75K-85K and they can move up over 100k in a handful of years.)
I work as a frog catcher and get paid 32 dollars an hour.
Depending on where you come from, the military. I grew up in the rural Midwest, where the average salary was about $35k a year. As a Captian, I make about $110k pre tax between my base salary, allowances and special pay. I own a house I got no money down through the VA and I have a masters degree I paid about $1200 for in total. Layered with some other academic scholarships, I have paid maybe $5000 for my entire post high school education.
Most army locations are in LCOL areas (very much a double edged sword) and if in a HCOL location, you get cost of living increases.
The military is a cheat code to raising your living standards if you’re willing to put up with the lifestyle.
Skilled Welders… 200k …with ot and travel
I know a guy who worked as a transport driver for medical samples tests medications etc and was making well over 100 and probably close to 200 by now. The medical field will pay almost anything for someone reliable but his issue was he had to find his own clients.
My girlfriend is a traveling nurse. She makes stupid cash and sets her own travel dates. If she’s feeling burned out she just takes a month off and still has plenty left over for bills and fun stuff
As I near retirement I realize that the military actually pays very well when you account for all of the benefits. Get into a service that actually cares for their people and in a role that doesn’t really involve getting shot at and you can have a great career. Yes it sucks moving every 3-5 years, but I also see many people staying in locations for 10+ years.
Take me for example, E-6 at 17 years and most calculators say I earn the equivalent of $100-112k. I would push that to the high end as I have my housing and utilities covered, zero out of pocket expenses for my two boys therapy needs and a pension once I retire at 20.
Retail employees but this is can be very regional and company dependent. My SO is a regional manager and his store managers make over $100k starting. Hourly employees make $21/hr plus a generous commission so a part timer can easily earn $60/year+. Part time employees also receive benefits and tuition reimbursement.
Electricians and plumbers make a nice wage without a degree since they can get the skills via apprenticeships.
Anesthesiologist has always surprised me. Obviously medicine pays, but there’s a variety of specialties. Generalists and pediatricians probably make around $250k since there’s a little less risk in their day to day. Of course, surgeons make way more. But anesthesiologists make a remarkable amount of money for really only being in a sit and watch position for 99% of the procedure. I’ve seen numbers as high as $800k. I guess they do have a high risk since anesthesia can be dangerous, but I never associated them with high pay since they’re usually just sitting around once you’re asleep.
Close to $78k average salary in NC for an electrical lineman. You can get some training at some NC community colleges but it’s not something that requires a degree. Lots of blue collar jobs pay well like welder etc.
Janitorial work.
Welders in general make a lot of money, Union welders make a ton of money.
Construction workers in general if they’re in a union make Bank. I haven’t met a single one that isn’t a secret millionaire after 5 to 10 years of working.
Also garbage men.
A lot of cops are the highest paid employees in their city. Mostly because of large amount of OT but a lot of that OT is essentially sleeping in a cruiser overnight.
Plumbers can make bank.
Dermatologist. My BIL is making $440k a year in a MCOL area working 4 days a week. This is only 3 years out of residency. He’s already paid off his $350k in student loans. His plan is to work for ten years and retire before he’s 40.
Meanwhile I have more education, work longer hours in a more specialized field, but since I’m a public servant, I only make $80k. I made some poor life choices….
Underwater welder
Anesthetist
You can sit and watch the gauge for an underwater welder and get at least $250K. Their life is literally in your hands.
"Maintenance" positions in some places. A glorified term for janitorial work which is often viewed as a minimum wage position. But not necessarily the case. Hourly wage is not far off from other positions but requires less work and effort. Especially when done as a roughly lateral move by someone with seniority.
Trade jobs. Seems like everyone is pushing kids to go to college. Some just aren’t suited to that. Skilled trade work jobs are in demand and pay well.
Marine pilot.
In New York City exclusively: Teaching. It takes time but you have a clear cut track that guarantees over $100,000 after like 8 or 10 years.
CTA (Chicago public transit) bus and train drivers top out around 180k iirc.
Lawyer, if you go into biglaw.
Pay starts at $245,000. That’s with ZERO experience. After two years, you make $316,500.
Inbound (non commission) call center. I went from being a manager at a big box store to answering phone calls with a $2 raise.
When I found out how much the store manager made at the grocery store I worked at in the 90s, my mind was blown. He was doing 6 figures then in a small farming town. That was without bonuses.
Trade jobs can do very well, but people still look down on them.
My brother is a plumber and makes about $300k a year. All he does is replace water heaters. Nobody believes me when I tell them this unless they have recently paid to replaced a water heater.
State nursing jobs. Dependent on your state obviously, but it’s a pension job with benefits and generally the type of nursing you’re doing is nothing compared to Trauma 1s or your local ED. I work with Tuberculosis so D.O.T. Nursing and home health could be included in this. Most days I don’t feel like I worked since I just play dominoes and watch movies with TB patients getting paid 60-70K/yr with OT opportunities as an LVN. I’m lucky to even find LVN positions that still want us vs actually paying more than 40K.
Some experiences vary as some states hate investing into health programs or have different priorities so compared to other states, everything I said before could be straight out my butt.
Food service is easy to get promoted in and hit 6 figures without a degree or waiting till your 40. You just have to get your bosses to like you. But ive known people to hit 6 figures by 30 in food.
My husband (turning 37 this year) is a plumber and makes right under 6 figures a year. He also just recently got an 8k bonus for being their top employee. Granted, he did bust his ass for quite a few years digging trenches and hauling water heaters up and down multiple flights of stairs and other ungodly shit that only plumbers see….but now he just does all the diagnostics and has the younger guys do the heavy lifting. It’s wild to me sometimes when I think about the fact that we’re way better off than our parents were at our age, but I’m also insanely grateful for it.
Firefighters in certain cities/states. They can easily make 150+ with overtime. Some captains over 300
PhD level Entomologist
Janitors. Know two myself, one works at a school district, another at a factory. They make 28 and 33 an hour respectively.
I myself am a "Master Clean" person at the same factory, we clean and sanitize the specialized equipment (we make food) and I get 35. Not quite a janitor though. The guy who cleans floors and bathrooms gets the aforementioned 33.
No experience required. In an area where 20-22 is considered doing well. I personally do about 4 hours of actual work a week but get paid my 4 or 5 day, 12 hours shifts anyway, I just got to be around in case. So much Steam Deck time its actually getting worn down both physically and the battery.
Career nannies can easily make $200k a year