Career Salaries:

Will a Career Salary Calculator Help You Find the Best Paid Careers in Healthcare?

Career salaries can vary greatly from career to career... from region to region... and even by employer. A career salary calculator might help you understand the possibilities in the best paid careers... or it might not.

Any discussion of occupational salaries is bound to be obsolete fairly quickly, but I know a lot of people search for this information, so I built this page to give you at least an idea what you might be able to earn in various healthcare careers and to point you in the right direction to get more updated information.

The good news is that healthcare career salaries are pretty good these days, in most every category, even nursing... which was certainly not the case back in the 70s when I first became a registered nurse.

Here's a chart that will give you an idea what your earning power might be in various healthcare careers...

Healthcare Career Salaries Overview

Career	Average Salary*
Physician	$125,040
Nurse	$56,300
Physical therapist	$58,380
Occupational therapist	$54,520
Speech therapist	$59,120
Respiratory therapist	$45,560
Dietitians	$42,800
Pharmacists	$88,460
Physician's assistant	$72,980

* Based on hourly ranges from US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005 report

Further exploration of BLS reports shows that some of the best paid careers are in the healthcare field:

Registered nurses
Physicians and surgeons
Podiatrists
Optometrists
Chiropractors
Health services managers
Physician assistants
Physical therapists
Dental hygienists

So now that you know how much money you might be able to make in a healthcare career, let me caution you against choosing your next career based only on career salaries.

Sure, most of us like making lots of money. It makes paying the bills and getting the things we want a lot easier. But the old adage that "money can't buy happiness" is sound. Think about it. For most of us, when we choose a career, we'll be spending at least half of our waking hours doing that job.

So, I ask you... Shouldn't you be doing something you love?

If you can find a career path that promises to be one of the best paid careers AND it's something you think you'd enjoy doing, great!

But if not, carefully weigh your choices before you make a final decision. When it comes right down to it, the best career salaries are those that pay off not only in dollars, but also in satisfaction and happiness.

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