37 high-paying jobs for people who don't like stress
Madison Hoff
- There are many jobs that are both well-paid and offer a relaxing work environment.
- Business Insider analyzed jobs with relatively low-stress work situations and make at least $75,000 annually on average.
Environmental engineers, geographers, and materials scientists all pay well and can be considered less stressful jobs compared to many other occupations.
The Department of Labor's O*NET OnLine occupational database includes survey-based measurements of how important various skills, activities, and personal traits are for a particular job.
One of the characteristics measured is stress tolerance, which O*NET describes as jobs requiring "accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations." O*NET scores job characteristics like stress tolerance on a scale from 0 to 100, where a 0 means stress tolerance is not at all necessary for an occupation, and 100 suggests a job with a very high-stress environment.
Business Insider ranked occupations from most to least stressful using O*NET's stress tolerance score, with lower scores indicating less stressful jobs. Since we are interested in high-paying jobs, we looked at occupations that had stress tolerance scores available and with average annual salaries of at least $75,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data for May 2022.
Several of the jobs fell in academia, including postsecondary teachers in various fields and researchers in economics, statistics, mathematics, and materials science. For instance, postsecondary economics teachers had a stress tolerance score of 63 and had an average annual wage of $122,750.
Based on the available data we used, models ranked No. 1 on our list. This job had a stress tolerance score of 51 and an average annual wage of $77,310. If we used median data for our pay metric instead of averages, then models would not have made the list — if we still looked at occupations making at least $75,000. That's because models had a median annual wage of $43,130.
The jobs below were ranked from most to least stressful. In the case of a tied stress tolerance score, we ranked by average annual wages. For instance, a few high-paying occupations had a stress tolerance score of 68, such as geoscientists and postsecondary mathematical science teachers.
Andy Kiersz previously contributed to this story.
37. Postsecondary philosophy and religion teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $87,100
36. Postsecondary mathematical science teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $90,110
35. Ship engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $100,980
34. Database administrators
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $102,530
33. Geoscientists (except hydrologists and geographers)
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $104,560
32. Political scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $126,140
31. Database architects
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $136,540
30. Petroleum engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $142,800
29. Agricultural engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual wage: $90,710
28. Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual wage: $120,100
27. Postsecondary education teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $78,540
26. Acupuncturists
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $82,390
25. Electronics engineers (except computer)
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $118,460
24. Computer hardware engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $140,830
23. Computer and information research scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $155,880
22. Animal scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $85,870
21. Postsecondary geography teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $87,880
20. Environmental engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $101,670
19. Epidemiologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $85,880
18. Statisticians
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $105,510
17. Economists
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $128,180
16. Bioengineers and biomedical engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual wage: $108,060
15. Postsecondary economics teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual wage: $122,750
14. Food scientists and technologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $85,730
13. Hydrologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $96,300
12. Materials scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $110,690
11. Physicists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $150,130
10. Soil and plant scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $76,410
9. Commercial and industrial designers
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $81,740
8. Operations research analysts
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $95,820
7. Chemical engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $117,820
6. Geographers
Importance of stress tolerance: 60
Average annual wage: $88,960
5. Computer systems analysts
Importance of stress tolerance: 60
Average annual wage: $107,530
4. Actuaries
Importance of stress tolerance: 57
Average annual wage: $127,580
3. Mathematicians
Importance of stress tolerance: 56
Average annual wage: $113,860
2. Cartographers and photogrammetrists
Importance of stress tolerance: 52
Average annual wage: $75,300
1. Models
Importance of stress tolerance: 51
Average annual wage: $77,310
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