What are the best jobs in America?
Americans mulling which fields offer the best chances for a solid salary, career growth and job openings may want to focus on the tech and health care fields.
The top job in the country, according to employment site Glassdoor, is physician's assistant, with its site tracking more than 45,000 job openings over the past three months and an average base salary of $111,376. The No. 2 best job in the country is software engineer, with almost 105,000 job openings over the past three months and an average base salary of $98,074.
Some newer professions also made the list, including data scientist and mobile developer, jobs that wouldn't have been on people's radar even a few years ago. While many of the most promising careers are for manager-level positions, such as IT project manager (No. 20), there's another trend that stands out: Many of them require years of specialized training.
"It would be really important for a college student to use this to plan their first job out of college, or which major to study," Susan Underwood, director of talent acquisition at Glassdoor, told CBS MoneyWatch. "While these positions are for employees who are couple years out of school, it could lead to a great job with great earnings potential."
Given that the survey's No. 4 job is human resources manager, with more than 8,000 openings during the past three months, that suggests that companies are investing in hiring and finding the right employees, Underwood said. Other careers that are essential to corporate operations, such as business development manager (No. 3) and finance manger (No. 5), also made the list.
"Companies are investing in their people," Underwood added. "It shows that companies are hiring people, and that they also need the HR manager to help bring them on board."
Some newer careers, such as data scientist, are likely to remain solid career paths, she added. The need for data scientists "is growing because of the development of the web and all the data we are gathering," Underwood said. She added that her own company "doesn't make any decisions without consulting the data" and that Glassdoor has a small but growing team of data scientists.
The highest-paid job on the list is finance manager, with an average base salary of $122,865, while the lowest-paid job is physical therapist, with an average base salary of $64,806.
Below is the list of the top 25 jobs in the U.S., with the number of job openings and average base salary. The list also includes Glassdoor's job score, which is based on a five-point scale, and its rating for the opportunities within that career.
- Job Score: 4.8
- Number of Job Openings: 45,484
- Average Base Salary: $111,376
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.5
- Job Score: 4.6
- Number of Job Openings: 104,828
- Average Base Salary: $98,074
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
3. Business Development Manager
- Job Score: 4.6
- Number of Job Openings: 11,616
- Average Base Salary: $94,907
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.5
- Job Score: 4.6
- Number of Job Openings: 8,073
- Average Base Salary: $96,443
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.6
- Job Score: 4.6
- Number of Job Openings: 9,728
- Average Base Salary: $122,865
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.4
- Job Score: 4.6
- Number of Job Openings: 14,647
- Average Base Salary: $100,130
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.4
- Job Score: 4.5
- Number of Job Openings: 9,790
- Average Base Salary: $97,835
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.4
- Job Score: 4.5
- Number of Job Openings: 10,294
- Average Base Salary: $113,363
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
- Job Score: 4.4
- Number of Job Openings: 3,449
- Average Base Salary: $104,476
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.8
10. Sales Manager
- Job Score: 4.4
- Number of Job Openings: 26,193
- Average Base Salary: $76,556
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
- Job Score: 4.4
- Number of Job Openings: 3,982
- Average Base Salary: $121,657
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.4
- • Job Score: 4.4
- • Number of Job Openings: 16,065
- • Average Base Salary: $73,015
- • Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
13. QA Engineer
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 26,383
- Average Base Salary: $77,499
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2
14. Business Analyst
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 21,337
- Average Base Salary: $74,638
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 10,435
- Average Base Salary: $76,803
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
16. Network Engineer
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 14,092
- Average Base Salary: $87,518
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2
17. Civil Engineer
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 6,120
- Average Base Salary: $73,383
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.5
18. Audit Manager
- • Job Score: 4.3
- • Number of Job Openings: 4,585
- • Average Base Salary: $69,271
- • Career Opportunities Rating: 3.9
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 27,579
- Average Base Salary: $64,806
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2
- Job Score: 4.3
- Number of Job Openings: 5,700
- • Average Base Salary: $103,710
- • Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2
- Job Score: 4.2
- Number of Job Openings: 2,377
- Average Base Salary: $103,736
- •Career Opportunities Rating: 3.7
- Job Score: 4.2
- Number of Job Openings: 3,754
- Average Base Salary: $83,795
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.4
23. Mobile Developer
- Job Score: 4.2
- Number of Job Openings: 4,651
- Average Base Salary: $79,810
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.3
- Job Score: 4.2
- Number of Job Openings: 15,341
- Average Base Salary: $95,171
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.1
25. Sales Engineer
- Career Score: 4.2
- Number of Job Openings: 6,007
- Average Base Salary: $91,318
- Career Opportunities Rating: 3.2