11 Best Paying Jobs for Community College Graduates

What are the best paying jobs for community college graduates? 

College tuition seems to be on a continuous growing path, which leaves everyone that wants a better education swimming in debt before they even start out their real lives. According to some old numbers, student loan debt was over $1 trillion, and that was in 2012. By now, the number has risen to over $1.3 trillion, which is a staggering number.

As a result, studies indicate that in the years to come more and more young people will choose community colleges instead of other alternatives, mostly so they can stay out of debt. This will not only influence their financial future, but also the entire job market, which is expected to make special room for those with associate’s degrees. Financial literacy website NerdWallet predicts that by 2020, jobs requiring only an associate’s degree will have the highest average growth, which is yet another issue that could influence the young people looking to pick a career.

You might also want to take a look at another article we published about the 11 best paying jobs for workers with high school degrees.

In order to establish our ranking for the day, we took a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and searched out just which jobs requiring a two-year Associate’s degree were paying the best yearly salaries, which is how we came up with these 11 best paying jobs for community college graduates.

11. Avionics technicians

Median Pay – $56,980

This is the perfect job for those who are passionate about planes and aircraft in general and fixing things. This job requires repairing various aircraft parts and performing scheduled maintenance, even those as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The work is usually done in hangars, as well as repair stations, or on airfields. In 2014, there were some 137,000 jobs in this domain, but the job outlook isn’t all that great.

10.  Magnetic resonance imaging technologists

Median Pay – $57,370

This may not be the best-paid job out there, but it is in demand; there are so many people working in this field, and there always seem to be open spots for more. More specifically, in 2014, radiologic and MRI technologists held 230,600 jobs and the job outlook until 2024 was of 9 percent, faster than the average.

Radiographers perform diagnostic imaging examinations, which we’re sure you’ve taken at least once in your life. On the other hand, MRI technologists operate magnetic resonance imaging scanners, which are a bit more complicated, but just as essential.

9. Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians

Median pay – $59,820

Technicians working as electrical and electronics engineers help create proper designs in this field and develop computers, as well as various other equipment, such as medical monitoring devices, navigational equipment and more. They’re often involved in evaluating and testing things out. There were quite a few jobs in this field in 2014, namely close to 140,000, but the job outlook wasn’t all that great.

8. Web developers

Median Pay – $63,490

Without doubt, one of the hottest jobs nowadays is that of web developer. Everything revolves around the Internet these days, so it’s no surprise that those taking care of creating and maintaining websites are well paid. The best part about this is that the usual requirement is only for an Associate’s degree, which requires a lot less time spent in school and a lot less money spent on tuition. Of course, this is something that many learn in their free time, which also helps a bit.

In 2014, the median pay was of over $63,000 and there were an estimated 148,500 jobs in the field. “The employment of web developers is projected to grow 27 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is much faster than other occupations.”

7. Aerospace engineering and operations technicians

Median Pay – $63,780

This is such a fascinating domain to operate in that you really shouldn’t pass on it if you’re passionate about it. Aerospace engineers and operation technicians operate and maintain equipment that is used in the development, testing and production processes of new aircraft and spacecraft. They are paid well, but you should know there aren’t all that many jobs open, the number sitting at 11,400 in 2014.

6. Diagnostic medical sonographers

Median Pay – $6,540

When you go to a doctor, it’s not always an X-ray that you need, but also a sonogram. That’s where diagnostic medical sonographers and cardiovascular technologists and technicians come in. They operate special imaging equipment, and they decipher what’s going on inside your body and what needs fixing before sending you back to your doctor. Some go a step forward and go to the operating room where they assist physicians and surgeons during various procedures.

In 2014, there were nearly 113,000 jobs in this field and the job outlook is good, with the projection of growth of 24 percent until 2024,  which is astounding.

5. Dental hygienists

Median Pay – $71,520

Being a dental hygienist is not exactly the same as being a dentist, but is close enough. They clean teeth, check out patients for various oral diseases and provide preventive dental care while also taking the time to educate properly people on how to correctly clean their teeth. To get this job you need an associate’s degree in dental hygiene which takes about three years to complete, and then you need to get licensed.

But the pay is quite good, racking up to over $71,000 per year and there were over 200,000 jobs in 2014. The job outlook also stood at 19 percent, which means there’s plenty of room for new people in the field.

4. Nuclear medicine technologists

Median Pay – $72,100

If you want to work in this field, you should know that nuclear medicine technologists operate various equipment that helps create images of areas inside a person’s body. They also work on preparing radioactive drugs and handing them out to patients, making the affected areas in the body to appear differently during scans. The sad part is that this isn’t a very populated field, with only 20,700 jobs in 2014, and the job outlook isn’t all that great either, with a projected growth until 2 percent until 2024.

3. Nuclear technicians

Median Pay – $74,690

Although it sounds similar, the two jobs are nothing alike. In fact, nuclear technicians are those who assist physicists and engineers in nuclear research and the production of nuclear energy, working in power plants and the likes.

This isn’t a very populated work field, with under 7,000 jobs in 2014. The job outlook isn’t too great either, with a projected decline of 5 percent from 2014 to 2024. This is mainly because while technicians are needed in this field, this form of power generation isn’t very popular nowadays and will likely start to get replaced with more eco-friendly alternatives.

2. Radiation therapists

Median Pay – $80,090

This is not an easy job, both when it comes to the actual job you have to do and the emotional impact it may have on a person, mostly due to the fact that you have to work with cancer patients, which is never an easy thing to do. Radiation therapists help treat cancer, as well as other diseases, by administering radiation treatments. The work is done in hospitals, but also physicians’ offices, and various other treatment centers.

Workers need to have an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in radiation therapy and need to get a license to be allowed to practice. In 2014 there were over 16,000 jobs in the field and the job outlook was projected to grow 14 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is quite a fast pace compared to other jobs.

1. Air traffic controllers

Median Pay – $122,340

Working as an air traffic controller is a very taxing job; it takes a lot of attention and quick thinking to keep everyone in the air safe. On the job you have to coordinate the movement of air traffic to make sure all planes stay at a safe distance apart.

The work is very difficult, especially since this isn’t a 9 to 5 job, but rather it takes place at all times, be it a night, weekend, or holiday. In order to get an entry level job you need to have an associate’s degree, to pass medical and background checks, as well as exams and a course at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). There’s also a lot of on-the-job training in this field of work.

While the median pay in 2014 was extremely good – $122,340 per year – there weren’t all that many jobs in the field, the number sitting at 24,500. Employment of air traffic controllers is also projected to drop by 9 percent by 2024.

Even so, this makes the top of the list of the 11 best paying jobs for community college graduates.