Careers That Pay Six Figures Without a Bachelor's Degree

There are plenty of lucrative career paths that don't require a four-year college degree. In this article, we'll explore several careers with high earning potential, including some you might not have considered before.

The list

A quick guide to the table. The pay figures are median annual wages for May 2025, the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Median means half the people in the job earn more and half earn less. The "way in" column shows the education or training most people have when they start, as the BLS describes it.

One more thing worth knowing: the BLS expects most of these jobs to keep growing through 2035, by about 2% to 6%. The exception is the three power plant jobs, where the number of positions is expected to shrink.

Career	Way in	Median pay	Top 10%
Air traffic controller	Associate degree, then FAA academy	$148,080	$215,610
Commercial pilot	FAA certificates (postsecondary nondegree award)	$123,220	$266,620
Nuclear power reactor operator	High school, long on-the-job training, NRC license	$122,890	$136,550
Elevator and escalator installer	High school, 4-year apprenticeship	$109,910	$158,890
Ship engineer	Coast Guard credential (postsecondary nondegree award)	$109,530	$145,560
Transportation, storage and distribution manager	High school plus 5 or more years in the field	$107,230	$194,900
Power distributor and dispatcher	High school, long on-the-job training	$106,730	$136,550
Police and detective supervisor	High school, years as an officer first	$106,040	$165,110
Radiation therapist	Associate degree, state license	$105,310	$156,710
Power plant operator	High school, long on-the-job training	$102,040	$136,550
Nuclear medicine technologist	Associate degree, certification	$101,370	$134,500

Two notes on reading it. The "top 10%" column is where the career goes if you are good and stay. And "high school" in the way-in column almost always means high school plus years of paid training or experience; nobody walks into a control room at 19.

The pilot row, honestly

Airline pilots are the highest-paid occupation on this page by a distance: a May 2025 median of $232,140, with the top 10% above $463,830. We left them out of the table because BLS says airline pilots "typically need a bachelor's degree", and we would rather argue with that in the open than bury it.

Here is the argument. The FAA does not require a degree for any pilot certificate. The commercial and airline transport pilot rules in 14 CFR 61.123 and 61.153 list age, English, training, tests and flight hours, and nothing about college.

Delta, the last major US passenger airline to require a degree, made it "highly preferred but not a requirement" in January 2022, and its hiring page still says so. The BLS line describes what pilots have historically had, not what the job requires.

The row we did include, commercial pilot at $123,220, is the one BLS itself tags as no degree needed. It covers charter, cargo, corporate and instructing, and it is the step every airline pilot passes through anyway.

What the training takes: private, instrument and commercial certificates, then usually an instructor rating, about nine months full time. Ours is a nine-month career program for $89,000 at Riverside, after which most graduates instruct to build the 1,500 hours an airline needs.

How long it takes to become a pilot has the timeline, and pilot salary has the pay at each rung, including the instructor years, which are not six figures.

Close, but under

Honest lists have a near-miss table. These are strong careers whose median sits just under $100,000 on May 2025 data, several with better growth than anything above.

Career	Median pay	Way in	Growth to 2035
Dental hygienist	$98,100	Associate degree	8%
Petroleum refinery operator	$96,710	High school, on-the-job training	Declining
Diagnostic medical sonographer	$96,590	Associate degree	14%
Electrical power-line installer	$95,320	High school, long on-the-job training	10%
Fire supervisor	$93,530	Firefighter first, then promotion	4%
Detective or criminal investigator	$93,790	High school, years as an officer	0%

Six figures, but BLS says bachelor's

Three more clear $100,000 and are often described as no-degree careers. BLS lists a bachelor's as typical for all three, so we have not put them in the main table.

Career	Median pay	What BLS says
Construction manager	$114,990	Bachelor's degree typical
Technical and scientific sales representative	$104,920	Bachelor's typical for scientific or technical products
Web and digital interface designer	$104,000	Bachelor's degree typical

Plenty of people in all three got there without one. But the default route employers describe is a degree, so we are not counting them.

The other side

Median means half earn less. A new elevator apprentice or a first-year flight instructor is nowhere near the median. In most of these careers the six figures arrive after five to ten years, not at the start.
Some of these fields are shrinking. BLS projects declining employment for nuclear reactor operators, power plant operators and power distributors through 2035. Fewer openings does not mean no openings, since people retire, but it does mean more competition for each one.
The gates are real. Pilots and air traffic controllers need an FAA medical, and the FAA sets an age cutoff for new controllers. Police supervisors have spent years as officers first. Nuclear operators pass a federal licensing exam. "No degree" never means "no barrier".
Training costs money. Flight training to the commercial certificate runs into tens of thousands, and some associate programs cost as much as two years at a university. What you save is usually time, and you get a paycheck from the work itself sooner. How to pay for a career program federal aid does not cover covers the money side.
The degree still buys options. Most managers above the people on this list have one. A controller or a pilot who wants to move into a corporate role later may find the degree matters then, even though it did not at the start.

How to use this list

Pick for the work, not the number. You will do the job for a long time before you reach the median. If sitting in a dark control room for twelve hours sounds unbearable, the $122,890 will not fix it.
Find out what year one actually pays. Every one of these occupations has a page in the BLS handbook with the lowest 10% figure. That is closer to your first paycheck than the median is.
Try it before you train for it. A ride-along, a day on site, a discovery flight. The cheapest hour you will ever spend on a career is the one where you find out you hate it.
Check the gate first. Medical, age, background, citizenship, whichever applies. Before you spend anything.
Then look at the training as an investment. Total cost, time to first paycheck from the work, and the pay curve after that. If the sum does not work on paper it will not work in life.

Questions

What is the highest-paying job you can get without a degree?

On BLS May 2025 data, air traffic controller has the highest median at $148,080 among occupations BLS lists as needing less than a bachelor's degree. Airline pilots earn more, a median of $232,140, but BLS lists a bachelor's as typical even though the FAA does not require one and major airlines no longer do.

Do you need a degree to be an airline pilot?

No. The FAA's pilot rules do not mention a degree, and Delta, the last major US passenger airline to require one, made it preferred rather than required in January 2022. Some airlines still prefer one. The training path is the same either way: private, instrument and commercial certificates, an instructor rating, then 1,500 hours.

Which of these can you start the fastest?

Commercial pilot, at about nine months of full-time training to the instructor certificate, though the six-figure pay comes later at the airlines. Most of the others take two years of college or four years of apprenticeship before full pay.

Are trade jobs really six figures?

Some are, at the median. Elevator installers at $109,910 are the clearest case, with a four-year paid apprenticeship as the way in. Many other trades pay well but have medians under $100,000, and the six figures depend on overtime, location and years in.

Where do these numbers come from?

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 median annual wages and 2025 to 2035 projections, read in October 2026. Each occupation's page is linked below. Pay varies a great deal by state and employer, so treat the median as the middle of a wide range.

Sources

Last reviewed October 2026 against BLS May 2025 data. BLS updates these figures each spring, so check the occupation's page before you make a decision on one of these numbers.