Highest Paying Jobs in Nebraska

Top 100 occupations ranked by median annual salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025

Highest Salary

$646,300

Cardiologists

Top 25 Average

$254,364

median salary

$100K+ Jobs

occupations

Occupations

100

with wage data

This ranking surfaces the 100 highest-paying occupations in Nebraska by BLS OEWS state median salary, drawn from the May 2025 release. At the top, Cardiologists pays a state median of $646,300, +30% above the national median of $496,010 for the same role. Of the 100 tracked positions, 73 pay above $100,000 per year in Nebraska - a useful threshold for separating specialist professional roles from mid-tier employment. The top-10 average sits at $371,019, giving a sense of what elite specialists inside this state actually clear.

The "Difference" column compares each state median to the corresponding national median for the same SOC code, making pay premiums and discounts immediately visible. In this list, 28 of 100 occupations pay above the national median in Nebraska, which usually signals one of three things: a local concentration of specialized employers (finance hubs, tech clusters, research universities, federal agencies), a cost-of-living adjustment baked into state-wide wage scales, or scarce in-state talent supply bidding up competitive roles. Occupations paying below the national median are not necessarily bad news, they often reflect lower cost of living in the state or industries where Nebraska is not a concentrated employer.

Rankings like this show ceiling-potential by specialty, but they don't tell you the odds of landing one of those roles. Pair this table with the employment column (how many workers the state actually employs in each occupation) and the growth projections on each occupation's national page to see whether the field is expanding or contracting. BLS wages exclude benefits, bonuses, and overtime, especially distorting for top-paying roles where equity and performance compensation can represent 30-50% of total pay. Use this leaderboard to shortlist careers worth exploring in Nebraska, then drill into each row's linked profile to check percentile spread, typical education, metro-level variation, and whether projected openings match your timeline.

#	Occupation	State Median	National	Difference	Employment
1	Cardiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$646,300	$496,010	+30% above	170
2	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$507,770	$358,550	+42% above	200
3	Emergency Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$371,880	$335,550	+11% above	390
4	Dermatologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$359,580	$328,730	+9% above	N/A
5	Obstetricians and Gynecologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$342,570	$292,910	+17% above	180
6	Surgeons, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$341,410	$414,010	18% below	180
7	Anesthesiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$334,210	$391,490	15% below	260
8	Physicians, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$290,470	$265,930	+9% above	1,170
9	Neurologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$269,270	$248,560	+8% above	80
10	Nurse Anesthetists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$246,730	$236,590	+4% above	430
11	Physicians, Pathologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$229,140	$312,400	27% below	90
12	Family Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$228,590	$244,180	6% below	830
13	Dentists, All Other Specialists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$224,990	$224,990	same as	N/A
14	General Internal Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$221,360	$256,560	14% below	900
15	Chief Executives Management Occupations	$214,680	$213,990	same as	2,510
16	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates Legal Occupations	$208,180	$153,990	+35% above	160
17	Dentists, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$179,750	$170,950	+5% above	790
18	Pediatricians, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$175,990	$210,040	16% below	290
19	Architectural and Engineering Managers Management Occupations	$141,020	$171,270	18% below	1,510
20	Financial Managers Management Occupations	$140,360	$166,570	16% below	5,630
21	Pharmacists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$139,330	$140,910	1% below	2,450
22	Nurse Midwives Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$138,880	$134,040	+4% above	N/A
23	Computer and Information Systems Managers Management Occupations	$135,780	$175,140	22% below	5,070
24	Aerospace Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$135,670	$134,960	+1% above	130
25	Psychiatrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$135,180	$281,870	52% below	180
26	Computer Hardware Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$134,950	$161,740	17% below	80
27	Database Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$134,320	$139,500	4% below	610
28	Physician Assistants Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$133,040	$135,880	2% below	1,330
29	Nurse Practitioners Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$132,130	$132,300	same as	2,340
30	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$131,650	$232,140	43% below	60
31	Psychologists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$131,640	$110,840	+19% above	50
32	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$130,980	$123,920	+6% above	90
33	Human Resources Managers Management Occupations	$129,460	$149,280	13% below	1,660
34	Law Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$127,690	$128,500	1% below	100
35	Sales Managers Management Occupations	$126,990	$148,270	14% below	3,000
36	Optometrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$125,040	$136,570	8% below	340
37	Purchasing Managers Management Occupations	$124,010	$148,080	16% below	440
38	Compensation and Benefits Managers Management Occupations	$121,630	$149,230	18% below	140
39	Natural Sciences Managers Management Occupations	$120,620	$167,220	28% below	550
40	Environmental Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$120,620	$107,110	+13% above	270
41	Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers Construction and Extraction Occupations	$117,690	$109,910	+7% above	140
42	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers Legal Occupations	$117,060	$117,860	1% below	30
43	Managers, All Other Management Occupations	$116,430	$141,900	18% below	2,640
44	Computer Network Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$116,420	$134,050	13% below	1,350
45	Air Traffic Controllers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$111,710	$148,080	25% below	70
46	Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers Management Occupations	$111,460	$89,900	+24% above	200
47	Software Developers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$110,900	$135,980	18% below	7,260
48	Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary Management Occupations	$110,580	$105,870	+4% above	1,860
49	Marketing Managers Management Occupations	$110,570	$166,790	34% below	1,910
50	Lawyers Legal Occupations	$109,170	$159,670	32% below	3,490
51	Nuclear Power Reactor Operators Production Occupations	$108,650	$122,890	12% below	50
52	Medical and Health Services Managers Management Occupations	$107,700	$123,860	13% below	3,770
53	Electrical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$107,260	$120,630	11% below	1,060
54	Industrial Production Managers Management Occupations	$107,200	$126,060	15% below	2,160
55	Advertising and Promotions Managers Management Occupations	$106,380	$133,660	20% below	160
56	First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives Protective Service Occupations	$106,100	$106,040	same as	730
57	Administrative Services Managers Management Occupations	$105,720	$114,130	7% below	2,600
58	Training and Development Managers Management Occupations	$105,710	$133,000	21% below	440
59	Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	$104,850	$103,020	+2% above	60
60	Commercial Pilots Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$104,780	$123,220	15% below	290
61	Public Relations Managers Management Occupations	$104,440	$146,910	29% below	330
62	Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$104,420	$101,110	+3% above	120
63	Nuclear Medicine Technologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$104,320	$101,370	+3% above	120
64	Veterinarians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$103,500	$130,100	20% below	780
65	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$103,230	$115,160	10% below	90
66	Civil Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$103,150	$100,840	+2% above	2,360
67	Actuaries Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$102,790	$130,000	21% below	270
68	Facilities Managers Management Occupations	$102,150	$106,660	4% below	1,430
69	Physical Scientists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$101,440	$122,570	17% below	40
70	Construction Managers Management Occupations	$100,820	$114,990	12% below	3,430
71	Petroleum Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$100,800	$144,910	30% below	150
72	Detectives and Criminal Investigators Protective Service Occupations	$100,530	$93,790	+7% above	290
73	Database Administrators Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$100,020	$104,620	4% below	610
74	Radiation Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$98,670	$105,310	6% below	120
75	Power Distributors and Dispatchers Production Occupations	$98,570	$106,730	8% below	240
76	Physics Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$98,460	$100,310	2% below	70
77	Chemical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$98,310	$125,040	21% below	130
78	Operations Research Analysts Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$98,300	$88,940	+11% above	330
79	Materials Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$98,270	$112,860	13% below	160
80	Data Scientists Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$98,230	$120,230	18% below	1,980
81	Power Plant Operators Production Occupations	$98,210	$102,040	4% below	360
82	Industrial Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$98,170	$102,440	4% below	1,160
83	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$98,010	$104,300	6% below	1,240
84	Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$97,640	$98,700	1% below	250
85	Audiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$97,460	$95,780	+2% above	90
86	Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers Management Occupations	$97,380	$107,230	9% below	1,420
87	Fundraising Managers Management Occupations	$97,230	$125,470	23% below	400
88	Physical Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$97,090	$102,760	6% below	2,140
89	Education Administrators, Postsecondary Management Occupations	$96,030	$104,590	8% below	1,560
90	Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$95,860	$109,270	12% below	390
91	Computer Programmers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$95,150	$100,390	5% below	1,090
92	Clinical and Counseling Psychologists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$94,540	$100,580	6% below	770
93	Anthropologists and Archeologists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$94,520	$70,770	+34% above	40
94	Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$94,360	$96,980	3% below	260
95	Financial Risk Specialists Business and Financial Operations Occupations	$94,280	$117,330	20% below	250
96	Postmasters and Mail Superintendents Management Occupations	$94,040	$96,660	3% below	150
97	Occupational Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$93,740	$100,330	7% below	1,500
98	Personal Financial Advisors Business and Financial Operations Occupations	$93,280	$105,070	11% below	2,210
99	Dental Hygienists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$92,580	$98,100	6% below	1,280
100	Information Security Analysts Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$92,550	$129,180	28% below	1,210

More ways to explore Nebraska pay and compare with national data.

Nebraska Overview

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Cardiologists

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About This Data

All salary data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. State-level data reflects wages for workers employed in Nebraska. The "Difference" column shows how Nebraska pay compares to the national median for that occupation.

Every figure on WageDex is rendered directly from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, no number is typed in by an editor. These figures are computed directly from BLS OEWS state-level wage data. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2025.

Compiled by WageDex Editorial, Occupational Wages Editorial Team · May 15, 2026

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