If you're like a lot of American workers, you think you should be making more at your job. But how much? Fashion-designer-level? As much as a legislator? How about a CEO?
Let us help you put your pay-raise dreams into perspective. Below are 13 occupations and occupational groups defined by the Labor Department. The list contains the highest- and lowest-paying jobs for which the department has data, plus 11 in between. Your task is simple: put them in the order of how much they are paid (annually, on average), from highest to lowest.
Don't get it on the first try? That's fine — it's kind of hard. But you can keep trying after you click "check my answers!" (Or if you get impatient, click "show answers.")
- Fashion designers
- Legislators
- Computer hardware engineers
- High school teachers
- Registered nurses
- Farmworkers, livestock
- Anesthesiologists
- Chief executives
- Nurse practitioners
- Logging workers
- Cooks, fast food
- Clergy
- Petroleum engineers
All of the data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2013 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (but don't cheat). For most jobs, the figures represent annual mean wages for full-time, full-year workers — the department simply multiplied out the average hourly wage. But for jobs that are not typically full-year, like legislators and teachers, the department may have used salary figures.
