7 High-Paying Jobs You Can Do Without A Degree in 2024

2. Executive Assistant

Degree Required? No
Other Qualifications Required? No
Average Salary: $88,000+ (Salary.com)

Executive assistants do exactly what it sounds like they do — they assist executives and sometimes other members of a business who sit on the board and have final decision-making power.

Some companies have exec assistant roles for individuals, while other companies will appoint one employee to the role for the whole board. Duties include booking meetings, dealing with company comms, and summarizing reports.

Executive assistants don’t need a degree to do their jobs — if you’re an incredible organizer and good with numbers, then you’ll go far. However, having an accounting, finance, or business management degree wouldn’t harm your application.

3. Distribution Manager

Degree Required? Not essential, but preferred
Other Qualifications Required? Yes
Average Salary: $105,000+ (Salary.com)

A distribution manager will look after a company’s shipping and transportation processes, ensuring everything is running smoothly. It’s all about ensuring that products reach their predetermined location on time and in one piece.

You will need at least a high school diploma for this job, and while degrees are becoming increasingly preferred for roles like this one, they’re not yet considered essential.

However, in hiring, you’re likely to go up against people with logistic and management qualifications — so it’ll probably only be worth your time to apply if you already have some experience in this area.

4. Real Estate Agent

Degree Required? No
Other Qualifications Required? Yes
Average Salary: $104,000+ (Salary.com)

Real estate agents lease, let, and sell commercial and residential properties. They are involved in every step of the property-buying process, from the initial research and purchase to subsequent viewings and sales. The best-paid roles in the industry tend to be in commercial real estate.

You don’t need a college degree for this role, but you will have to pass some real estate exams to obtain your license, as well as a variety of other training courses to ensure you’re up to the job.

While Salary.com puts the average salary at just over $100,000 per annum, some other job websites, such as Glassdoor, display a pay range of $154,000-195,000.

5. Flight Attendant

Degree Required? No
Other Qualifications Required? No
Average Salary: $85,000+ (Salary.com)

Like the idea of traveling the world, but don’t want to go through the arduous process of obtaining a pilot’s license? Well, just hop on board as a flight attendant, a role that doesn’t require a degree yet pays better than some that do.

Flight attendants are responsible for ensuring passengers get to the right seats and have safe, pleasant journeys. Naturally, it involves lots of traveling and being away from your home for extended periods, which won’t fit with everyone’s lifestyle or personal responsibilities.

While you don’t need a college degree to be considered for a flight attendant role at any major US airline, you will have to go through extensive background checks, endure emergency training, and pass a medical exam.

6. Train Driver

Degree Required? No
Other Qualifications Required? Yes
Average Salary: $73,000+ (Salary.com)

Train drivers are pretty well paid in the US, at least compared to other roles that do not require prior qualifications. US train drivers tend to be better paid than their European counterparts and typically earn above the median average salary for a US worker (just under $60,000).

This is perhaps because it’s a little more than just getting passengers from A to B — train drivers will liaise with stationary control teams, check the train is fit for service, and follow track signaling protocols. It might be repetitive, but it’s also a job with significant responsibility. If you’re not focused, people could get hurt.

A lot of US railroad companies offer their own training programs and courses that you’ll need to complete before you’re let loose on the tracks. There are also some eyesight and color vision requirements.

7. Personal Trainer

Degree Required? No
Other Qualifications Required? No
Average Salary: $67,000+ (Salary.com)

Personal trainers do not require a degree to practice their profession, and you can be certified as a personal trainer with just a high school diploma.

Better still, while you can obtain supplementary qualifications, there’s no obligation to. However, a well-respected personal trainer course can be completed for under $1,000 over a couple of months — way cheaper than college.

This doesn’t stop some hotels, spas, fitness clubs, and gyms from demanding degree-level qualified personal trainers. However, if you can walk the walk and talk the talk, you’ve got a much higher chance of getting your foot in the door without a qualification than other professions in the same pay range.