The field of anesthesiology produced two of the highest-paying jobs in the country as both anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists landed in the top 11 of the U.S. News & World Report rankings for 2018?
Anesthesiologists ranked first overall with a median annual salary of $208,000 and a 0.5% unemployment rate. The rankings cited the importance of the field and the difficulty of performing the job as reasons for the spots. It was also projected that anesthesiology will add 5,900 new positions by 2026, an 18% rate of growth. In addition, the field was rated as the 13th career in the Best Jobs category, which takes into account many factors beyond salary. Anesthesiologists narrowly edged out surgeons as the best-paying field, according to the report.
At the same time that the field of anesthesiology ranked highly among the best-paying jobs, the medical field at large dominated the rankings. All of the top 11 jobs listed were related to health care, and operating room–based positions comprised the top four.