Jobs with the Best Career Opportunities

Best Career Opportunities in the US

The best career opportunities can change over the years. This is based on the way the world is going, what is important to people, and different trends related to population and culture.

In a study that came out in July 2019, Glassdoor reported that being a tax manager was the best career opportunity with a medium base salary of $112,021 a year and 4,803 job openings as of July 5th. The study analyzed millions of employee reviews on Glassdoor to identify the 25 jobs with the best career opportunities in the United States.

The results showed careers in different fields, not just tech as some may have thought. The results can be good for helping a new college student decide which direction to go in or helping others figure out a new career path.

The report used the criteria of a median base salary over $80,000 a year or more, of 2,000 job openings or more, and a career opportunities rating of 1-5, with 5 being the strongest. Using this, the tax manager career had a rating of 4.1, which you can compare to the average of 3.0 across all the jobs on the Glassdoor website.

Top 10 Jobs with the Best Career Opportunities

1 Tax Manager

2 Salesforce Developer

3 Product Designer

4 Strategy Manager

5 HR Manager

6 Audit Manager

7 Data Scientist

8 Business Development Manager

9 Java Developer

10 Marketing Manager

You can view the rest of the jobs as well as the ratings and stats, on the Glassdoor report. Based on this report, many of the jobs are in the six-figures, or close to six figures. Their ratings are all 3.6 and above and have between 2,010 and 12,865 job openings on Glassdoor.

Best Jobs in America for 2019 Report

If you take a look at Glassdoor’s Best Jobs in America for 2019 listing, you can see that data scientists came in at #1 with a salary of $108,000, with a nursing manager at #2 with a salary of $83,000, a marketing manager at #3 with a salary of $82,000, an occupational therapist at #4 with a salary of $74,000, and a product manager at #5 with a salary of $115,000.

US News “Best Jobs of 2019”

However, according to this U.S. News article on their Best Jobs of 2019, software developers were rated the highest. This is because the job not only offers flexible hours, which is so important in today’s world but also remote work which is becoming more and more common. The job also invests in the individual’s personal and professional development. A software developer has a median annual income of over $100,000 and those who work as one do so in computer systems, design, manufacturing, and finance. The article also listed a statistician as #2, a physician assistant as #3, and a dentist as #4. Health care occupations have also continued to show promise with high salaries and low unemployment rates.

The Best Jobs of 2022

Looking to 2022, U.S News has announced its 100 Best Jobs of 2022. Within this report, you will find their top ten best jobs:

1 Information Security Analyst

2 Nurse Practitioner

3 Physician Assistant

4 Medical and Health Services Manager

5 Software Developer

6 Data Scientist

7 Financial Manager

8 Statistician

9 Lawyer

10 Speech-Language Pathologist

As you can see, health care professions make up over a 3rd of this list. A software developer is now rated as #5. As the world has changed quite a bit from 2019, this ranking makes a bit of sense. It is possible that health care positions will keep moving up the list in the years to come due to the pandemic, as well as the aging baby boomer generation.

How Were the Best Jobs Calculated?

To calculate these job rankings, U.S. News received data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify the jobs, with the greatest hiring demand. Jobs are scored based on:

10-year growth volume
10-year growth percentage
Median salary
Unemployment rate
Future job prospects
Stress level
Work-life balance

All of these jobs listed in the top ten earn $80,000 or more per year, with most being over $100,000.

What Data Scientists and Software Developers Have In Common

According to this article by Barron’s, programming languages such as Java, Python, R, Hadoop, and SQL are used by data scientists and software developers. Companies such as Google, Aetna, and Microsoft look to hire people with these types of skills. With each receiving a six-figure salary, it seems as though becoming either a data scientist or software developer can be a smart career choice.

Latest Job Figures from BLS

Based on the latest job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is now at 3.9%, as of January 7, 2022. The labor force participation rate was 61.9% as of December of 2021. The U.S. economy added 199,000 new jobs in December of 2021, compared to 164,000 new jobs in July of 2019.

Basically speaking, if you are looking for a career path with a six-figure income, one where you can advance, learn new skills, and the potential to earn more money, becoming an information secruity analyst or any of the top careers on the lists mentioned above would be a good idea. They can provide you with a decent career, and potential for even more as the years go by.

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Julie Provost

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Julie Provost is a freelance writer, blogger, and owner of Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life, a support blog for military spouses. She lives in Tennessee with her National Guard husband and three boys.