Who makes up the top 5% of wage earners??

The BLS Occupational Employment Statistics has data on earnings per occupation. They break the data down to show what the median income is and what the bottom 25% makes, what the top 25% makes and what the top 10% makes.

If you go to the page and then use their 'multi screen data search' databases tool you can find all this data for any occupation they track. I did a search for all occupations and all data and then looked for annual earnings values that exceeded the $145k maximum that they track.


All together among the occupations listed below 1,091,915 people make over $145k income.

I present lists of jobs where the top earners make over $145k below. For the lists, the occupation is listed first, then the BLS number is in () and the total people in that occupation is then given last.

Occupations where the top 10% of earners make over $145k are below.
This group has 7,988,700 people total so 798,870 of them make over $145k

Management Occupations(110000) 6,003,930
Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes(131011) 11,680
Personal Financial Advisors(132052) 132,460
Computer and Information Scientists, Research(151011) 28,720
Actuaries(152011) 18,030
Petroleum Engineers(172171) 16,060
Astronomers(192011) 1,520
Physicists(192012) 13,980
Legal Occupations(230000) 998,590
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary(251042) 52,560
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary(251071) 114,070
Law Teachers, Postsecondary(251112) 12,610
Producers and Directors(272012) 72,390
Athletes and Sports Competitors(272021) 12,670
Broadcast News Analysts(273021) 6,550
Chiropractors(291011) 27,190
Dentists, General(291021) 85,260
Dentists, All Other Specialists(291029) 4,490
Optometrists(291041) 24,900
Pediatricians, General(291065) 28,890
Podiatrists(291081) 9,320
Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners, All Other(291199) 44,350
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents(413031) 268,480

Occupations where 50% of the people make over $145k are below.
There are 424,120 people total in this group so 212,060 of them make over $145k.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons(291022) 5040
Prosthodontists(291024) 380
Family and General Practitioners(291062) 113250
Internists, General(291063) 46260
Psychiatrists(291066) 21790
Physicians and Surgeons, All Other(291069) 237400

Finally a few occupations where 75% of the people make over $145k:
There are 107,980 total people in this group so 80,985 of them make over $145k.

Orthodontists(291023) 5350
Anesthesiologists(291061) 31030
Obstetricians and Gynecologists(291064) 21340
Surgeons(291067) 50260

Within the general Management field listed in the first group there are several subcategories. One of those is CEO's. There are 299,160 CEO's in the nation and their median income is over $145k.

If you look at the total group here there are over 1 million people making over $145k and they fall into a few main categories as shown in the following pie chart:There are of course other people working in other jobs who also make over $145k. There are various salesmen, high paid engineers and professors in various fields making high salaries.