No. 5 best: Data scientist

No. 5 best: Data scientist

No. 5 best: Data scientist, > Annual median wage: $111,267
> Projected job growth, 2014-2024: 16%
> Total employment: 26,580

As the amount of data businesses collect continues to grow, individuals capable of mining the information for insights and actionable knowledge will be in high demand. The BLS projects that the number of data scientists will increase by 16% between 2014 and 2024, more than twice the 7% projected growth rate for all U.S. occupations. Most data scientists have doctoral degrees or professional degrees and are compensated well for their expertise. The typical data scientist earns $111,267 per year, far more than the $37,040 median for all jobs.