Jobs that can typically be done from home bring in higher wages than those that can't, according to a recent analysis of work-from-home occupations out of the University of Chicago. Of the occupations that can be done remotely, various manager positions are some of the highest earning.
The report from researchers at the University of Chicago used job characteristics from the Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network (O*NET), and showed that about 37% of jobs in the US can be done from home. Based on occupation characteristics, their estimate came out to be greater than the actual share of US jobs that had been done from home pre-pandemic, and is noted as an "upper bound" of the actual share of jobs that can likely be done from home.
Researchers Jonathan Dingel and Brent Neiman looked at certain survey questions from O*NET to figure out whether a job cannot be done remotely. For instance, jobs that require walking or running for a majority of the time, or where the use of equipment or machinery is an important aspect, didn't make the list.
The researchers also wrote that based on hourly figures of broad occupational categories, those who are likely able to work from home are also high earners. Jobs in computing and education have the highest share using the O*NET classification method.
To find the highest-paying jobs from home, we took the O*NET occupations from the University of Chicago report and matched them with their average annual salary figures from May 2019, the most recently available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We excluded telework jobs that do not have a specific salary. For instance, learning distance coordinators listed on O*NET can be done from home, but this occupation does not have a specific salary listed on BLS.
The following are the 25 highest-paying jobs that can be done from home based on job characteristics.