A Look at the Highest (And Lowest) Paying Jobs in Each State

Job salaries are often a product of local demand, regional economies, and the education required. These guidelines don’t always hold true (some New York City-area sanitation workers can make in excess of $100,000 a year), but generally, the more skills a job requires, the larger the dollar amount on your pay stub.

The job-seeker advisors at Zippia have reinforced the point. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, they’ve put together a map of the highest-paying jobs in each state. And it’s not much of a surprise who’s cashing the largest checks.

Being an orthodontist in Alabama is apparently a great career choice; the dental specialists earn an average of $289,740 in a state where the median household income is $46,257 as of 2016.

Other health care providers—surgeons, oral surgeons, anesthesiologists, internists, dentists—make up the remainder of the map, with Florida, Maine, North Dakota, and Delaware rounding out the top five. The lowest white-collar salary was in Wyoming, where OBGYNs make a piddling $263,490.

Zippia also took a look at some of the least-financially viable jobs by state. In South Carolina, porters and bellhops make an average $17,810. In Nevada, casino dealers bring in just $18,000. But those numbers are rather misleading, as tips in service industries can usually offset meager salaries. The real problem comes in Iowa, where a movie theater projectionist can expect a salary of just $17,820. For more information on Zippia's findings, click here.