Biomedical engineers are well-compensated while tending to work in low-stress environments.
Tom Robertson/Getty Images
There are many jobs that are both well-paid and offer a relaxing work environment.
We looked at jobs that pay at least $75,000 annually and that have a relatively low-stress work situation.
Here are 36 of those jobs ranked from most to least stressful, and by average annual wages in the case of a tie.
Westend61/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $78,440
Kilito Chan/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $81,240
Reza Estakhrian/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $81,470
Alistair Berg/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $95,490
PhotoAlto/Eric Audras/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $96,180
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $115,430
Jetta Productions Inc/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 69
Average annual salary: $121,840
Ariel Skelley/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual salary: $87,980
Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual salary: $88,260
Igor-Kardasov/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual salary: $96,910
Adwo/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual salary: $103,550
Larisa Rudenko/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual salary: $145,720
Luis Alvarez/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual salary: $87,350
Rob Carr/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual salary: $116,410
Master Video/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual salary: $267,280
skynesher/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual salary: $76,990
Associated Press
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual salary: $136,230
Maskot/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual salary: $142,650
Kachor Valentyna/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual salary: $88,150
Moof/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual salary: $100,220
Reuters/Maria Armas
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual salary: $86,740
Luis Alvarez/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual salary: $99,450
SmartPhotoLab/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual salary: $120,830
Tom Robertson/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual salary: $101,020
Business Insider
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual salary: $124,090
Mark Edward Atkinson/Tracey Lee/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual salary: $84,150
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual salary: $94,780
Monty Rakusen/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual salary: $104,790
pixelprof/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual salary: $151,580
SDI Productions/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual salary: $76,290
portishead1/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual salary: $79,680
Pattanaphong Khuankaew / EyeEm/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual salary: $95,830
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual salary: $120,430
Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual salary: $121,840
Franz Aberham/Getty Images
Importance of stress tolerance: 59
Average annual salary: $86,740
Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
Importance of stress tolerance: 56
Average annual salary: $112,430
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.
We 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 2021, the most recently available release.
The above jobs were ranked from most to least stressful. In the case of a tied stress tolerance score, we ranked by average annual wages.
Several of the jobs fell in academia, with postsecondary teachers in various fields and researchers in economics, statistics, mathematics, and materials science dominating the top of the list.
Andy Kiersz previously contributed to this story.