America's Highest Paying Jobs
There are several ways to compare the income of different jobs. Government statistics look at the incomes in different occupations using two different definitions of "average." The title of best paid career is contested between the medical profession and company chief executives. There are also unofficial surveys to find the highest paid individuals in both the commercial and public sectors.
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Careers (Mean Average)
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces annual figures on salaries in different occupations. These figures are the mean average, which is calculated by taking the total amount earned by every person recorded in that occupation and then dividing by the number of people.
According to the figures for 2009 incomes, the five best paid careers were, from fifth to first place: obstetricians and gynecologists ($204,470 per year), orthodontists ($206,190), oral surgeons ($210,710), anesthesiologists ($211,750) and surgeons ($219,770.)
The best paid career type outside of medicine was Chief Executive Officer, with an average salary of $167,280. In reality, CEOs may have the highest earnings thanks to cash and stock bonuses.
Careers (Median Average)
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The mean average figures only show an overall picture of a career's earnings and can be distorted by a few very high earners. The Bureau also produces median hourly salaries. The median is the salary earned by the person who is in the middle of the income scale: that is, he or she earns more than half the other people in the same career and less than half the other people. This can be seen as a more representative "average" in terms of giving insight into what people in the industry can expect to earn.
With the median figures, CEOs take top spot with an average hourly salary of $77.27. Second place goes to family and general practitioners with $77.14, while psychiatrists are close behind on $77.04.
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Individuals
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CNN's annual Fortune 500 report on companies details the individuals with the highest pay packages. The list is inevitably dominated by CEOs. In its report for 2009 CNN listed, Gregory Maffei of Liberty Media in first place on $87.5 million, followed by Lawrence Ellison of Oracle ($70.1 million) and Fred Hassan of Merck ($49.7 million.)
Public Officials
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Officially, the highest paid federal official is the President of the United States, who is paid $400,000. The Vice President, the Chief Justice and the speaker of the House of Representatives all receive the same salary, which was $227,300 in 2009 and changes every year in line with inflation.
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References
- Photo Credit main surgeon image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com
