This story originally appeared on FlexJobs.
Ever wondered what other professionals in your industry earn, or how you can remove the guesswork if you’re negotiating salary? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has done some of your homework for you, thanks to its huge database of median salaries.
The BLS provides estimates of salaries by profession for an exhaustive list of job categories and titles. We’ve cross-referenced some of the biggest job groups in their database with job categories on our site to provide you with the median salaries of flexible and remote-friendly career fields.
Architecture
Architects (the building and design kind, not IT architects) earned a median pay of $80,750 a year in 2019, according to federal figures.
Arts and Design
The median annual wage for occupations in arts and design (including graphic designers, interior designers, and animators) was $48,130, with art directors making more than $94,000.
Business and Financial
In 2019, the median annual salary for business and financial professionals was $69,820; personal financial advisers earned top median salaries in this category, making $87,850 a year.
Community and Social Service
This category, which includes counselors, therapists, and social workers, earned a mean annual wage of $46,090, with the greatest growth projected (12%) in the health care and social assistance specialties.
Computer & IT
Computer and IT professionals earned a median salary of $88,240 in 2019, with growth in this job sector expected to grow some 11% by 2029. Top-tier professionals in computer and IT earned more than $107,000.
Education
The BLS data grouped education, training, and library occupations in one category and reported a median annual salary of $50,790; post-secondary teachers topped the list, earning a median salary of more than $79,000.
Engineering
The median annual pay in the engineering field topped out at more than $137,000 for petroleum engineers; overall, the median pay in the combined architecture and engineering fields was $81,440, according to BLS figures.
Entertainment and Sports
Analysts placed entertainment and sports occupations in the same category and showed a median annual wage of $45,250. (Note: There was no annual median figure for actors, musicians, dancers, and other more art-focused careers.)
Health care
This broad category, which includes physicians, registered nurses, and dental hygienists, had a median salary of $68,190 in 2019, with physicians and surgeons earning more than $208,000 at the top end. Health care support roles, including nursing assistants, home health care aides, and medical transcriptionists, earned a mean annual salary of $28,470.
Legal
In the legal profession, the median pay depends on the level of expertise; lawyers earned $122,960 a year, for example, while paralegals and legal assistants earned a median annual pay of $51,740.
Management
The median annual salary for management occupations was $105,660 in 2019, although managers at the top rungs in engineering and computer fields can bring in more than $144,000 a year.
Math
The median pay for math occupations was $90,410, but actuaries can earn upward of $108,000. The median pay for mathematicians and statisticians is around $92,000 annually.
Media and Communications
Media and communications occupations — including reporters, writers, editors, translators, and photographers—had a median annual salary of $48,270 in 2019. Technical writers made the highest median wage of $72,850.
Office and Administrative Support
These commonly remote jobs paid a median annual wage of about $37,580, according to federal data.
Sales
Although the reported median annual salary in this category in 2019 was just over $29,000, some professionals earned significantly more, with sales engineers leading the way with a median salary of $103,900.
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