The 20 highest-paying jobs you can do from home

Thanks to technology, our overwhelming desire for better work-life balance, or a need for extra cash, freelancing is becoming the new norm in America.

As of 2014, more than 53 million Americans were doing freelance work, according to a survey conducted by the independent research firm Edelman Berland and commissioned by Freelancers Union and Elance-oDesk, which recently relaunched with the name Upwork.

That's about 34% of the entire workforce.

"We've entered into a new chapter of work, in which technology has made it much easier for people to find work faster and reach beyond Industrial Era boundaries in order to create a more flexible work-life balance," says Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel.

Upwork - which serves as a broker between companies that need skills and freelancers eager to supply them - recently sifted through data to find which freelance skills yield the highest hourly wages.

Turns out freelancers with the right skills can earn a great living from the comfort of their homes.

The wage numbers come from the combined databases of Elance and Upwork, and are based on the average hourly rate for each skill between January 1 and May 31, 2015.