The highest paying job in Alaska is Dentists, General, with a median salary of $230,830 per year. Below is the complete ranking of the top 25 careers in AK based on 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024
Ranked by median annual salary. Click any job to see the full salary breakdown including percentile data and state-by-state comparisons.
| Rank | Occupation | Median Salary | Mean Salary | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dentists, General | $230,830 | $202,250 | 260 |
| 2 | Airline Pilot | $226,490 | $222,280 | 1,620 |
| 3 | Petroleum Engineers | $200,750 | $211,940 | 310 |
| 4 | Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates | $168,880 | $158,160 | 140 |
| 5 | Chief Executives | $168,680 | $211,500 | 910 |
| 6 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $168,040 | $267,910 | 170 |
| 7 | Optometrists | $165,830 | $154,110 | 70 |
| 8 | Pharmacist | $163,200 | $158,430 | 510 |
| 9 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $152,290 | $161,610 | 730 |
| 10 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $147,190 | $133,760 | 120 |
| 11 | Nurse Practitioners | $145,450 | $142,340 | 570 |
| 12 | Industrial Engineers | $142,980 | $147,060 | 230 |
| 13 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $142,230 | $165,250 | 110 |
| 14 | Psychiatrists | $140,650 | $215,130 | 40 |
| 15 | Transportation Inspectors | $138,030 | $157,750 | 200 |
| 16 | Physician Assistants | $136,350 | $139,590 | 670 |
| 17 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $136,080 | $129,410 | 40 |
| 18 | Construction Manager | $135,630 | $148,270 | 1,600 |
| 19 | Massage Therapists | $135,200 | $126,320 | 570 |
| 20 | Lawyer | $132,710 | $140,520 | 1,040 |
| 21 | Engineers, All Other | $132,410 | $132,190 | 280 |
| 22 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $132,320 | $129,720 | 330 |
| 23 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $130,700 | $136,250 | 880 |
| 24 | Nurse Midwives | $130,030 | $137,410 | 60 |
| 25 | Mechanical Engineer | $129,990 | $120,920 | 530 |
Average Salary in Alaska · All Alaska Jobs · Build Your Resume →
The top-paying careers in Alaska are concentrated in Healthcare Practitioners fields. The #1 job, Dentists, General, pays $154,244 more than the state average of $76,585 per year.
Among the top 25, the minimum median salary is $129,990, meaning all jobs on this list pay significantly above the national average.
See how Alaska's top salaries compare to other states.
Rankings are based on median annual salary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2024 estimates. We use median rather than mean salary because it better represents typical earnings and is less affected by outliers.
Only occupations with state-level data published by BLS are included. Some specialized or rare occupations may not have data for every state. For full methodology details, see our Methodology page.