These Are the Best Jobs in America This Year

If you're looking for inspiration in your quest to change jobs, here's a starting point.

best jobs in america
Shutterstock/loreanto
Shutterstock/loreanto

A year of living through a pandemic has shifted our thinking about a lot of things. Work has been a minefield for workers, some of whom have faced employers putting their health secondary to profits and customers who aren't interested in the basic precautionary step of wearing a mask. Some workers have been labeled essential only to get pushback when they want a liveable hourly wage. And that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as labor obstacles over the last year. 

It's been a chaotic year at work to understate the case by magnitudes. So, maybe you're thinking about that dream job you never pursued, or maybe you're ready for a change of scenery. Glassdoor's annual list of the best jobs in America is back, and maybe it can provide a little inspiration for the restless. 

The site allows employees to rate their employers and jobs in addition to having job listings. To create this list, the site weighs three factors for each job title: earning potential (median annual base salary), overall job satisfaction rating, and the number of current job openings. So, if your dream job is to open your own bakery, that's awesome. But you aren't going to find "bakery owner" on this list because it's not going to be found on this list because it just won't qualify.

To even be considered for the list, Glassdoor needs 100 salary reports from employees and at least 100 job satisfaction ratings from site users. That title must also have at least 2,000 openings as of December 7, 2020. Also, the list excludes internships and C-suite jobs. 

Here are the top 20 jobs, listed with their median base salary, according to Glassdoor. Check out the full list of 50 jobs at Glassdoor. At its list, you'll find all of the jobs as well as details about job openings. If you're looking for this kind of information sorted in a different fashion, it has also previously put together lists of the best companies to work for and the companies with the best work-life balance.

20. Program Manager ($80,066)
19. Tax Manager ($111,046)
18. Product Marketing Manager ($120,267)
17. Machine Learning Engineer ($104,837)
16. Back End Engineer ($90,757)
15. Automation Engineer ($86,445)
14. Salesforce Developer ($89,098)
13. Strategy Manager ($123,207)
12. HR Manager ($87,852)
11. Front End Engineer ($81,360)
10. Dentist ($134,122)
9. Software Engineer ($110,245)
8. Mobile Engineer ($94,301)
7. Business Development Manager ($82,182)
6. Information Security Engineer ($110,000)
5. Devops Engineer ($110,003)
4. Enterprise Architect ($131,361)
3. Product Manager ($121,107)
2. Data Scientist ($113,736)
1. Java Developer ($90,830)

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.

Dustin Nelson is a Senior Staff Writer at Thrillist. Follow Dustin Nelson on Twitter.