Pay for what you get

When it comes to industries where workers don’t need a college degree to succeed, logistics is near the top of the list, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by New York-based business insurance provider AdvisorSmith, ranked 100 occupations according to the median annual salary for adults aged 25 and over who do not hold a college degree. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers came in third on the list, with an annual median salary of $94,650. They were outranked only by nuclear power reactor operators ($100,530) and construction managers ($95,260). Rounding out the top five were power distributors and dispatchers ($90,700) and elevator and escalator installers and repairers ($84,990).

For its study, titled “Highest-Paying Jobs Without a College Degree,” AdvisorSmith used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify occupations in which more than 50% of workers lack a college degree—an indication that a degree wasn’t a qualification for employment. It then ranked the top 100 occupations based on their annual median salary.

Median salaries for the 100 occupations studied ranged from $49,940 to $100,530, all of which are well above the national median salary of $39,810, the company noted. It added that its study’s findings undermine the “limiting belief” that to be successful, you need to have a college degree.

In addition to transportation/storage/distribution managers, several other logistics industry jobs made the top 25. They included transportation inspectors (9), ship engineers (12), signal and track switch repairers (14), captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels (16), and locomotive engineers (22).