Top 100 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina

Table 1 compares the top 100 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina, ranked by annual average salary. For each job, the table displays the number of employees with that job, as well as the job's entry-level salary. (The entry-level salary is calculated based on the 10% of paid workers with the lowest salaries.)

Based on the table, we see that the highest-paying jobs in North Carolina are those of general internal medicine physician, with an average annual salary of $225,680. The second highest-paying jobs are those of family medicine physician, with an average salary of $217,200.

All of the shown salary and employment information for North Carolina has been computed using data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in April 2023. Notably, the highest-paying occupations change from year to year. Tables 2, 3, and 4 show the top 10 highest-paying occupations in North Carolina in 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Table 1. Top 100 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina (2022 survey)

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i	Entry Level Salary i	No. of Empl i
1	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$225,680	$55,930	790
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$217,200	$109,990	1,630
3	All Other Physicians	$215,850	$61,560	14,150
4	General Pediatricians	$208,950	$103,820	1,050
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$206,750	$164,570	2,380
6	Chief Executives	$204,790	$120,650	1,680
7	Psychiatrists	$191,120	$77,920	540
8	General Dentists	$181,590	$104,570	3,570
9	Physicists	$170,550	$62,100	320
10	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$160,960	$114,100	2,110
11	Natural Sciences Managers	$160,000	$94,360	4,390
12	Anesthesiologists	$154,540	$95,700	700
13	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$152,920	$100,520	140
14	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$152,400	$98,020	19,140
15	Podiatrists	$150,040	$86,430	160
16	Financial Managers	$139,150	$82,360	19,420
17	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$137,840	$61,150	160
18	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$136,430	$100,090	5,220
19	Optometrists	$135,250	$78,450	1,000
20	Actuaries	$135,180	$76,610	770
21	Aerospace Engineers	$134,360	$75,910	520
22	Marketing Managers	$133,980	$78,680	10,420
23	Pharmacists	$132,530	$90,250	11,110
24	Postsecondary Law Teachers	$131,910	$46,730	330
25	Computer Hardware Engineers	$131,450	$79,300	1,320
26	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$131,340	$91,500	760
27	Medical Dosimetrists	$128,360	$53,000	130
28	Purchasing Managers	$127,110	$76,630	3,040
29	Software Developers	$126,520	$72,940	57,690
30	Database Architects	$123,950	$74,100	2,800
31	Human Resources Managers	$123,770	$76,620	5,710
32	Other Counselors	$123,280	$42,390	700
33	Physician Assistants	$121,980	$97,490	7,150
34	Data Scientists	$121,970	$65,560	5,350
35	Sales Managers	$121,220	$54,600	11,330
36	Lawyers	$121,080	$58,430	14,150
37	Nuclear Power Reactor Operators	$120,080	$84,450	300
38	Nurse Midwives	$119,020	$81,700	280
39	All Other Managers	$118,830	$62,800	16,840
40	Public Relations Managers	$118,420	$72,500	1,110
41	Information Security Analysts	$117,860	$76,100	6,040
42	Nuclear Engineers	$116,600	$71,770	600
43	Computer Network Architects	$112,900	$76,300	7,290
44	Nurse Practitioners	$111,140	$94,990	8,040
45	Statisticians	$109,210	$68,620	1,550
46	Training and Development Managers	$108,020	$63,520	1,780
47	Postsecondary Agricultural Sciences Teachers	$107,780	$63,760	410
48	Commercial Pilots	$107,400	$54,100	850
49	Financial Risk Specialists	$106,440	$66,210	2,220
50	Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products Sales Representatives	$105,300	$47,920	11,130
51	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	$104,670	$66,900	250
52	Nuclear Technicians	$104,470	$64,170	370
53	Other Psychologists	$103,790	$45,380	450
54	Industrial Production Managers	$103,780	$63,790	7,870
55	Database Administrators	$103,750	$54,940	2,240
56	Atmospheric and Space Scientists	$103,080	$66,210	100
57	Medical and Health Services Managers	$102,910	$67,910	12,230
58	Engineers, All Other	$102,620	$61,500	2,820
59	Personal Financial Advisors	$102,200	$41,920	13,650
60	Postsecondary Economics Teachers	$102,000	$50,810	420
61	Veterinarians	$101,980	$62,710	3,110
62	Postsecondary Health Specialties Teachers	$101,540	$52,820	11,570
63	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$101,340	$71,610	400
64	Computer Programmers	$101,080	$60,510	4,200
65	Sociologists	$100,960	$60,810	330
66	Sales Engineers	$100,810	$73,460	2,370
67	Electrical Engineers	$100,120	$66,280	5,150
68	General and Operations Managers	$100,020	$45,520	89,160
69	Administrative Services Managers	$99,980	$59,550	6,420
70	Materials Scientists	$99,760	$49,660	150
71	Computer Systems Analysts	$99,280	$54,730	23,690
72	Construction Managers	$98,580	$56,900	20,660
73	Chemical Engineers	$98,510	$62,580	510
74	Management Analysts	$98,310	$58,040	19,360
75	Art Directors	$98,280	$50,240	610
76	Electronics Engineers (Non Computer)	$98,220	$67,010	1,830
77	Other Physical Scientists	$98,220	$53,330	610
78	Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	$98,190	$57,600	4,600
79	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	$97,700	$49,830	8,210
80	Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists	$96,840	$52,520	2,690
81	Operations Research Analysts	$96,450	$59,320	2,320
82	Computer Occupations, All Other	$96,140	$48,640	6,580
83	Project Management Specialists	$93,820	$54,950	23,520
84	Environmental Engineers	$93,470	$61,430	800
85	Credit Analysts	$93,290	$61,600	3,320
86	Biochemists and Biophysicists	$92,710	$55,560	400
87	Facilities Managers	$92,460	$55,590	2,710
88	Materials Engineers	$91,900	$70,010	380
89	All Other Healthcare Diagnosing or Treating Practitioners	$91,170	$58,640	1,040
90	First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers	$90,430	$50,780	10,280
91	Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers	$90,000	$36,690	180
92	Financial Analysts	$89,960	$60,970	10,270
93	Acupuncturists	$89,290	$29,380	160
94	Fundraising Managers	$88,110	$58,500	980
95	Other Education Administrators	$87,730	$44,960	1,520
96	Industrial Engineers	$86,390	$61,770	9,820
97	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	$85,780	$68,030	200
98	Genetic Counselors	$85,170	$64,360	120
99	Postsecondary Geography Teachers	$85,170	$60,510	160
100	Postsecondary Engineering Teachers	$84,810	$44,930	1,290

Table 2. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina – 2021 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$199,310
2	Nurse Anesthetists	$195,250
3	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$172,960
4	General Dentists	$167,600
5	All Other Physicians	$165,890
6	Podiatrists	$162,730
7	Anesthesiologists	$154,540
8	Postsecondary Law Teachers	$154,400
9	Natural Sciences Managers	$152,220
10	Financial Managers	$151,440

Table 3. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina – 2020 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Psychiatrists	$191,120
2	Nurse Anesthetists	$182,500
3	Podiatrists	$163,890
4	General Dentists	$163,000
5	General Pediatricians	$150,740
6	Natural Sciences Managers	$148,040
7	Financial Managers	$140,000
8	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$139,000
9	Marketing Managers	$136,600
10	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$135,490

Table 4. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in North Carolina – 2019 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Chief Executives	$204,790
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$202,030
3	All Other Physicians; and Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$180,950
4	Psychiatrists	$180,490
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$179,520
6	General Dentists	$167,780
7	General Pediatricians	$154,600
8	Natural Sciences Managers	$142,140
9	Podiatrists	$141,960
10	Physicists	$140,180

Also see The most popular jobs in North Carolina.