Looking for a new career? These are the fastest growing—and some may surprise you

Wind turbine service technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, nurse practitioners, data scientists, and information security analysts are expected to be the fastest growing occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s most recent projections of 2023–2033 released last month. All five of these roles are expected to grow at least by 33%—which is significantly higher than the average for all jobs, 4%. Moreover, they also all pay median salaries higher than the average for all occupations, which sits at $48,000.

The 10 fastest growing jobs

The 10 fastest growing jobs

All data according to the BLS.

Wind turbine service technicians

• Growth rate: 60%
• New jobs: 6,800
• Median annual pay: $61,770
• Education required: No degree required, but additional training needed

Solar photovoltaic installers

• Growth rate: 48% 
• New jobs: 12,000
• Median annual pay: $48,800
• Education required: No degree required, but additional training needed.

Nurse practitioner 

• Growth rate: 46%
• New jobs: 135,500
• Median annual pay: $126,260
• Education required: Master’s degree

Learn more: Read our guide on how to become an advanced nurse practitioner and check out our ranking of the best online MSN nurse practitioner programs.

Data scientists

• Growth rate: 36%
• New jobs: 73,100
• Median annual pay: $108,020
• Education required: Bachelor’s degree

Learn more: Read our guides on how to become a data scientist, how to become a data analyst, and our ranking of the best online master’s in data science.

Information security analysts

• Growth rate: 33%
• New jobs: 59,100
• Median annual pay: $120,360
• Education required: Bachelor’s degree

Learn more: Check out our resources on how to become a cybersecurity specialist, how to get into cybersecurity without a degree, and our ranking of the best online master’s in cybersecurity.

Medical and health services managers

• Growth rate: 29%
• New jobs: 160,600
• Median annual pay: $110,680
• Education required: Bachelor’s degree

Physician assistants

• Growth rate: 28%
• New jobs: 43,700
• Median annual pay: $130,020
• Education required: Master’s degree

Computer and information research scientists

• Growth rate: 26%
• New jobs: 9,400
• Median annual pay: $145,080
• Education required: Master’s degree

Learn more: Check out our resources on how to become a software engineer as well as our ranking of the best in-person master’s in computer science and best online master’s in computer science.

Physical therapy assistants

• Growth rate: 25%
• New jobs: 27,500
• Median annual pay: $64,080
• Education required: Associate’s degree

Operational research analysts

• Growth rate: 23%
• New jobs: 28,300
• Median annual pay: $83,640
• Education required: Bachelor’s degree

The 10 fastest declining occupations

• Word processor and typists (-38%)
• Roof bolters, mining (-32%)
• Telephone operations (-26.4%)
• Switchboard operators, including answer service (-25.2%)
• Data entry keyers (-25.0%)
• Foundry mold and coremakers (-24.6%)
• Loading and moving machine operations, underground mining (-22.9%)
• Pattern makers, metal and plastic (-22.2%)
• Telemarketers (-21.5%)
• Engine and other machine assemblers (-21.3%)

A booming number of new jobs

With the U.S. projected to add 6.7 million new jobs by 2033, Michael Wolf, division chief for employment projections at BLS, says some of the biggest takeaways occupation-wise also centers around the number of jobs. In the healthcare field alone, for example, millions of new jobs are projected to be created.

The biggest growing occupation is home health & personal care aids—which is expected to need over 820,500 more workers. Registered nurses, medical & health services managers, and nurse practitioners are also each expected to grow by hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The 10 occupations with the most projected new jobs

The salaries of these roles, Wolf says, often correlates to the level of education required.

“We find occupations that require a college degree are growing faster. Bachelor’s degree occupations are growing on average 7.2% over the projection period—that’s compared with 4% for all jobs,” Wolf notes.

Occupations requiring master’s degrees are growing even faster—at a rate of 12.1%, but interestingly enough, the median wage of those with a master’s degree, $79,840, is lower than those with just a bachelor’s degree. Part of this is because managerial occupations are classified as just requiring a bachelor’s degree, Wolf says.

“Managers tend to have basically more work experience, which is boosting their pay, as opposed to having the pay be solely based on education—so that’s boosting bachelor’s degree a little bit,” Wolf explains. He adds that some professions requiring master’s degrees, such as social workers or counselors, have relatively low wages as compared to their education level.

The takeaway: the job market is constantly evolving

Technology has historically played a major role in shaping the occupations of the U.S., and it will continue into the future. AI and other developments have certainly more recently made many roles more efficient and may have contributed to the declines in some roles like clerical workers. However, at the same time, innovation has created opportunities in other areas that are seeing rapid growth like data science and cybersecurity.

Ultimately, Wolf hopes people use BLS data to explore occupations—but not necessarily let it determine one’s destiny. 

“You don’t want to make your decisions to say, I’m just going to choose the fastest growing occupation or the highest paying one. I think it has to align with your interests and your skills and ability. But you should take the growth and you should take the wage into account,” Wolf explains.

He adds that there’s an “probably an occupation that fits well for everyone,”—they just have to find one that fits.

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