Top 100 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Table 1 compares the top 100 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV are those of nurse anesthetists, with an average annual salary of $221,430. The second highest-paying jobs are those of general internal medicine physician, with an average salary of $215,170.

All of the shown salary and employment information for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV in 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Table 1. Top 100 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (2022 survey)

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i	Entry Level Salary i	No. of Empl i
1	Nurse Anesthetists	$221,430	$61,200	170
2	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$215,170	$64,660	3,200
3	Family Medicine Physicians	$215,000	$141,300	2,290
4	All Other Physicians	$212,280	$76,360	8,260
5	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$201,730	$187,200	200
6	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$199,950	$91,600	2,570
7	Psychiatrists	$183,470	$39,860	580
8	Other Specialists Dentists	$179,150	$92,710	100
9	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$177,900	$148,100	130
10	General Dentists	$176,330	$85,050	4,210
11	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$176,280	$124,160	18,280
12	Lawyers	$176,280	$104,980	46,710
13	Database Architects	$175,330	$89,980	5,980
14	General Pediatricians	$169,730	$67,140	600
15	Physicians, Pathologists	$169,570	$104,890	130
16	Public Relations Managers	$168,830	$97,910	9,030
17	Air Traffic Controllers	$166,090	$32,550	1,420
18	Financial Managers	$165,670	$105,650	22,290
19	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$164,090	$124,650	4,580
20	Marketing Managers	$163,200	$102,100	7,390
21	Human Resources Managers	$163,130	$101,030	5,920
22	Postsecondary Law Teachers	$162,320	$64,120	540
23	Nuclear Engineers	$159,280	$93,300	460
24	Sales Managers	$159,160	$74,690	7,640
25	Natural Sciences Managers	$153,910	$106,810	5,370
26	Purchasing Managers	$153,420	$126,210	4,160
27	Emergency Management Directors	$153,220	$76,870	280
28	All Other Managers	$151,470	$106,810	41,530
29	Sales Engineers	$148,690	$94,340	1,310
30	Other Physical Scientists	$148,660	$97,430	2,730
31	All Other Healthcare Diagnosing or Treating Practitioners	$147,260	$98,880	6,440
32	Engineers, All Other	$147,200	$61,940	8,230
33	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$145,880	$95,990	550
34	Medical Dosimetrists	$144,300	$133,750	120
35	Mathematicians	$143,060	$75,960	220
36	Astronomers	$143,060	$83,980	480
37	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$140,730	$88,200	2,460
38	Materials Engineers	$138,860	$82,060	490
39	Physicists	$138,860	$76,210	1,780
40	General and Operations Managers	$138,840	$61,150	96,210
41	Aerospace Engineers	$138,840	$91,820	2,560
42	Economists	$138,840	$80,040	5,190
43	Political Scientists	$138,840	$79,780	4,000
44	Computer Hardware Engineers	$138,730	$83,310	2,980
45	Computer Network Architects	$138,110	$84,180	9,730
46	Detectives and Criminal Investigators	$137,970	$75,070	4,730
47	Pharmacists	$137,900	$74,940	4,680
48	Actuaries	$137,710	$84,940	290
49	Fundraising Managers	$136,790	$85,210	920
50	Training and Development Managers	$136,200	$94,970	1,040
51	Hydrologists	$135,430	$77,440	120
52	Software Developers	$134,870	$80,600	69,360
53	Electronics Engineers (Non Computer)	$134,840	$82,250	3,330
54	Chemists	$134,640	$80,550	2,760
55	Commercial Pilots	$134,460	$67,010	390
56	Industrial Production Managers	$132,730	$82,330	810
57	All Other Surgeons	$132,720	$86,370	520
58	Information Security Analysts	$132,640	$82,100	17,150
59	Optometrists	$132,350	$59,670	710
60	Other Legal Support Workers	$131,890	$63,540	8,190
61	Marine Engineers and Naval Architects	$131,870	$77,020	850
62	Biochemists and Biophysicists	$131,850	$63,800	1,910
63	Other Mathematical Science Occupations	$129,680	$46,090	320
64	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	$129,430	$72,260	500
65	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$129,360	$66,000	460
66	Medical and Health Services Managers	$129,310	$85,320	10,520
67	Elementary and Secondary School Education Administrators	$128,690	$80,580	6,230
68	Computer Occupations, All Other	$127,370	$73,640	36,860
69	Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products Sales Representatives	$125,400	$61,800	4,180
70	Nurse Practitioners	$125,370	$90,170	3,980
71	Veterinarians	$125,320	$77,080	1,880
72	Data Scientists	$124,570	$71,940	6,720
73	Physician Assistants	$124,470	$77,920	3,280
74	Operations Research Analysts	$123,140	$64,480	8,310
75	Other Education Administrators	$121,060	$60,670	2,470
76	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	$121,060	$80,210	430
77	Podiatrists	$119,120	$58,880	190
78	Computer Programmers	$118,450	$73,740	3,600
79	Construction Managers	$118,270	$78,410	6,190
80	Administrative Services Managers	$118,150	$59,760	3,510
81	Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	$117,500	$75,830	2,380
82	Statisticians	$117,500	$78,890	4,290
83	Electrical Engineers	$117,500	$78,980	3,900
84	Atmospheric and Space Scientists	$117,500	$66,440	550
85	Social Scientists and Related Workers	$117,500	$68,140	5,880
86	Petroleum Engineers	$115,880	$53,610	80
87	Computer Systems Analysts	$115,180	$73,530	19,360
88	Environmental Engineers	$113,590	$76,650	870
89	Art Directors	$113,200	$64,840	900
90	Chemical Engineers	$110,780	$78,710	490
91	First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	$110,700	$82,400	4,300
92	Management Analysts	$110,360	$67,130	71,400
93	Budget Analysts	$110,360	$72,880	4,270
94	Other Psychologists	$110,360	$52,170	750
95	Historians	$110,360	$49,310	390
96	Other Artists and Related Workers	$110,360	$72,260	1,570
97	Other Media and Communication Equipment Workers	$110,360	$42,980	740
98	Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers	$110,010	$31,200	1,760
99	Network and Computer Systems Administrators	$109,760	$70,630	13,430
100	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	$109,140	$64,650	8,780

Table 2. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV – 2021 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Nurse Anesthetists	$204,790
2	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$203,540
3	General Pediatricians	$195,610
4	Other Specialists Dentists	$172,490
5	Lawyers	$172,490
6	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$171,230
7	Physicians, Pathologists	$169,570
8	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$168,150
9	Public Relations Managers	$163,800
10	Air Traffic Controllers	$163,780

Table 3. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV – 2020 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	All Other Physicians; and Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$204,160
2	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$201,730
3	Podiatrists	$192,550
4	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$189,480
5	Psychiatrists	$183,470
6	Industrial-Organizational Psychologists	$183,030
7	Other Specialists Dentists	$177,430
8	Nurse Anesthetists	$175,870
9	Public Relations and Fundraising Managers	$173,160
10	Lawyers	$170,800

Table 4. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV – 2019 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$204,140
2	Psychiatrists	$187,020
3	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$182,850
4	Nurse Anesthetists	$180,450
5	Family Medicine Physicians	$180,430
6	Industrial-Organizational Psychologists	$178,970
7	General Dentists	$178,150
8	All Other Physicians; and Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$174,960
9	General Pediatricians	$166,190
10	Nuclear Engineers	$164,210

Also see The most popular jobs in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV.

Also see The most popular jobs in District of Columbia, The top paying jobs in District of Columbia.