Careers: Associate's degree
48 occupations requiring associate's degree, sorted by median salary.
This page lists the 48 BLS-tracked occupations assigned Associate's degree in the BLS “typical education needed for entry” category, ranked by national median salary from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 release. Leading the list is Air Traffic Controllers at $148,080/year, projected to grow 1% through 2034. The equal-weighted mean of the published occupation medians in this category is $70,732. It is a comparison of occupation medians, not a worker-level wage or the return from obtaining a credential.
4 of 48 occupations in this BLS category have a published median above $100,000 per year. 37 occupations in this list are projected to grow through 2034 per BLS Employment Projections, while 11 are flat or declining. Summing the published projected annual openings across the list gives approximately 332,300. This is an occupation-level projection sum, not a live vacancy count or an individual entry probability. Workplace safety grades shown on each row derive from BLS CFOI fatality rates and SOII injury rates, useful for roles involving fieldwork, construction, transportation, or healthcare where physical hazard matters alongside compensation.
“Typical education needed for entry” is the BLS category describing the education workers typically need to enter an occupation. It is not a legal or employer-specific requirement and does not describe every worker. Many roles on this list have alternative pathways through experience, certifications, portfolio-based entry, or higher credentials. Those pathways are context for further research; this ranking does not measure their effect on pay. Use this ranking to compare occupations that share the same BLS entry-education assignment, then open a national profile to inspect its published percentile boundaries, state and local-area variation, and employment projections. The assignment does not measure your current credential, a program's cost, or the best route for an individual. OEWS percentiles are wage boundaries, not entry or senior work-level estimates. OEWS includes tips, commissions, incentive pay, and production bonuses. Employer benefits, overtime premiums, stock compensation, and nonproduction bonuses are excluded, so compare those parts of an offer separately.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Traffic Controllers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | $148,080 |
| 2 | Nuclear Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $110,240 |
| 3 | Radiation Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $105,310 |
| 4 | Nuclear Medicine Technologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $101,370 |
| 5 | Dental Hygienists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $98,100 |
| 6 | Diagnostic Medical Sonographers Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $96,590 |
| 7 | Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $95,480 |
| 8 | Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $82,890 |
| 9 | Respiratory Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $82,280 |
| 10 | Radiologic Technologists and Technicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $80,110 |
| 11 | Funeral Home Managers Management Occupations | $78,790 |
| 12 | Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $78,350 |
| 13 | Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $78,190 |
| 14 | Electrical and Electronics Drafters Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $76,870 |
| 15 | Computer Network Support Specialists Computer and Mathematical Occupations | $76,220 |
| 16 | Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $74,510 |
| 17 | Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $74,310 |
| 18 | Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $73,900 |
| 19 | Occupational Therapy Assistants Healthcare Support Occupations | $72,300 |
| 20 | Legal Support Workers, All Other Legal Occupations | $72,110 |
| 21 | Mechanical Drafters Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $71,550 |
| 22 | Physical Therapist Assistants Healthcare Support Occupations | $68,380 |
| 23 | Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $68,020 |
| 24 | Calibration Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $67,820 |
| 25 | Architectural and Civil Drafters Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $66,150 |
| 26 | Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $66,120 |
| 27 | Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $64,950 |
| 28 | Hydrologic Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $64,790 |
| 29 | Drafters, All Other Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $63,520 |
| 30 | Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | $63,520 |
| 31 | Paralegals and Legal Assistants Legal Occupations | $62,890 |
| 32 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $62,280 |
| 33 | Medical Equipment Repairers Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | $61,660 |
| 34 | Chemical Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $60,390 |
| 35 | Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architecture and Engineering Occupations | $59,920 |
| 36 | Broadcast Technicians Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | $59,570 |
| 37 | Embalmers Personal Care and Service Occupations | $58,780 |
| 38 | Desktop Publishers Office and Administrative Support Occupations | $55,290 |
| 39 | Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $55,090 |
| 40 | Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers Personal Care and Service Occupations | $55,010 |
| 41 | Forest and Conservation Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $54,560 |
| 42 | Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $53,350 |
| 43 | Food Science Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $52,130 |
| 44 | Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping Office and Administrative Support Occupations | $50,610 |
| 45 | Agricultural Technicians Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | $49,630 |
| 46 | Veterinary Technologists and Technicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $47,380 |
| 47 | Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | $38,140 |
| 48 | Dietetic Technicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | $37,640 |
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Education, growth, and openings use BLS Employment Projections for 2024–2034; wages use BLS OEWS May 2025; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII where present. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.