Surgeons, physicians top CareerCast list of 10 best-paying jobs

The occupations deemed to be the top 10 best-paying professions by job search website CareerCast have a few things in common: Most require extensive training or education and many are intensely stressful. Seven of the 10 – including physicians, psychiatrists and orthodontists – are in the healthcare sector. Surgeons are the best paid, earning an average annual salary of $233,150 nationwide, with job openings projected to grow 18% by 2022. In California, surgeons earn $222,550 a year and can look forward to a forecast 19% boost in jobs by 2020.