These Are the Best Jobs in the U.S. in 2019

Shutterstock
Shutterstock

When you're plugging away in college, figuring out a career path to forge, it helps if you can discover something you're super passionate about. It's another thing altogether to raise your finger to the wind and figure out what sort of expertise is most likely to land you a great, well-paying job to help pay off whatever mountain of debt your education will inevitably leave you with. Fortunately, now there's an easy way to figure out exactly which gigs are the ones to shoot for right now, thanks to a new study that identifies the 50 best overall jobs in the US for 2019

Spoiler: set your sights on tech.

This illuminating new look at the best gigs of 2019 comes courtesy of job review site Glassdoor, which unleashes a list like this every year for people on the hunt for a new opportunity. To figure out what made the cut, the team culled through its extensive job review and listings data to identify each position's "job score," which is determined by three distinct equally weighed factors: earning potential based on median annual base salary, job satisfaction rating, and number of job openings. Then, they found the ones with the highest overall job scores, and ranked them accordingly.

The top job in America this year is data scientist, which has a median base salary of $108,000, followed by nursing manager ($83,000), and then marketing manager ($82,000). The full list includes quite a diversity of fields, but here's what the top 50 ranking -- complete with median base salaries -- looks like. 

50. Systems Administrator ($68,000)
49. Software Development Manager ($140,000)
48. Brand Manager ($85,000)
47. Office Manager ($42,000)
46. UX Designer ($89,000)
45. Safety Manager ($71,000)
44. Software Developer ($80,000)
43. Software Engineering Manager ($153,000)
42. Restaurant Manager ($49,000)
41. Radiologic Technologist ($48.000)
40. Customer Success Manager ($65,000)
39. Systems Engineer ($90,000)
38. Facilities Manager ($65,000)
37. Physical Therapist ($70,000)
36. Communications Manager ($80,000)
35. Risk Manager ($100,500)
34. QA MAnager ($91,250)
33. Applications Engineer ($77,000)
32. Nurse Practitioner ($102,000)
31. Data Analyst ($60,000)
30. Dental Hygienist ($67,250)
29. Business Development Manager ($80,000)
28. Recruiter ($48,000)
27. Solutions Architect ($127,000)
26. Business Analyst ($72,000)
25. Finance Manager ($118,000)
24. Electrical Engineer ($77,000)
23. Executive Assistant ($60,000)
22. Java Developer ($85,000)
21. Product Designer ($100,000)
20. Project Manager ($75,000)
19. Speech Language Pathologist ($72,000)
18. Construction Manager ($75,000)
17. Security Engineer ($102,000)
16. Strategy Manager ($140,000)
15. Operations Manager ($68,000)
14. Sales Engineer ($90,000)
13. Sales Manager ($65,000)
12. Physician Assistant ($105,000)
11. Mechanical Engineer ($75,000)
10. Software Engineer ($!04,000)
9. HR MAnager ($85,000)
8. Data Engineer ($100,000)
7. Program Manager ($87,000)
6. Devops Engineer ($106,000)
5. Product Manager ($115,000)
4. Occupational Therapist ($74,000)
3. Marketing Manager ($82,000)
2. Nursing Manager ($83,000)
1. Data Scientist ($108,000)

As you'll notice, a disproportionate number of these positions are specialist tech jobs. In fact, with 19 on the list, they're the most represented of any field of the bunch. 

“There’s no question that emerging technologies designed to grow and scale business, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation are having an impact on the types of jobs employers are hiring for across the country. As a result, we’re seeing a spike in demand for highly-skilled workers in 2019,” said Glassdoor economic research analyst Amanda Stansell in a press release.

That's not to say there aren't other industries where solid opportunities are abound. Specifically, people who're passionate about healthcare should be pumped, since its the second-most represented field here, with eight jobs among the top 50. 

Though don't forget, if nothing on the list seems to line up with what you have your heart set on, you could always try and make a go of it as a lighthouse keeper on a private island, or ya' know, a hotdogger


Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.