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Median Salary: $24,200 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 36.6% Personal care aides help people who have chronic conditions accomplish everyday tasks, like making beds and taking baths. Some positions require high school diplomas or certificates from relevant community college programs.
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Additional training, perhaps at a certified home health or hospice agency, may include CPR certification. You might wind up working in a client's home, a group home or perhaps at a day service program at a nursing facility.
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Median Salary: $54,370 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 56.9% Wind turbine technicians inspect and repair wind turbines, which generate clean energy. They may train on the job, studying wind energy technology, through a technical program or at a community college.
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These workers adjust, diagnose, inspect or repair wind turbines. Training may take place on the job or through a technical program. Many technicians learn how to repair and do preventive maintenance on turbines in vocational school.
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In any case, with a position like this you'll likely spend a lot of time at the top of a turbine performing maintenance or troubleshooting the turbine's electrical, mechanical or hydraulic components and replacing or fixing malfunctioning components. If you don't mind heights, this might be a fun job, and on the upside, you'll often see spectacular views.
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Median Salary: $24,020 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 36.4% These workers support patients in completing their day-to-day tasks, like cooking dinner and getting somebody's mail. They are in high demand as baby boomers age. Some roles require high school diplomas, competency exams or certificates, plus passing a background check.
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This is a job very much like a personal care aide, except, of course, you're in a person's home. You probably will work for a home health care business and have numerous clients to visit in a given day. On the other hand, you may wind up working for extended periods of time for one person in a home.
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Median Salary: $29,000 Expected Job Growth by 2026: 8.8% Landscapers and groundskeepers make sure gardens and lawns look attractive and well maintained at parks, golf courses, private homes, college campuses and office buildings. They stay busy working outdoors by planting, watering, mowing, fertilizing and weeding.
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Another upside: It's almost always a career that you'll spend work time during the day, since it's hard to do landscaping in the dark, and it's often a job in which you aren't working weekends. Licenses may be required for people whose jobs involve using pesticides and fertilizers.
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Median Salary: $53,910 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 13.6% Plumbers assemble, install and repair pipes and pipe systems in every building that has water, from factories and homes to schools and airports. Plumbers typically complete an intense apprenticeship program, a paid program which can typically last four to five years, offered by unions or businesses,
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which combines classroom instruction with hands-on work. They must be licensed to work independently and will often be required to continue receiving continuing education to keep that license. While plumbing is generally a day job during the work week, emergencies can happen any time, so it's a job that can potentially involve evening and weekend work.
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Median Salary: $33,610 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 22.6% Medical assistants work in doctors' offices, hospitals and other health care facilities, helping with clerical tasks and basic medical work. They often spend a year earning a certificate through a community college or technical school, studying anatomy and medical terminology.
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But it is a career that you can often get started with a high school diploma and work your way up by learning on the job.
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Median Salary: $24,730 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 8.5% These licensed cosmetologists wash, cut, color and style hair for their clients. To qualify for licenses, hairdressers graduate from state-approved barber or cosmetology schools and take state exams to get licensed.
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Generally, as you would expect, you'll probably be working in a barbershop or salon, though some hair stylists find work in other areas, such as in film or for a television studio. Gifted stylists who are people persons and enjoy talking to the public will likely thrive, in terms of enjoying their job, and will be more likely to collect generous tips.
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Median Salary: $41,420 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 22.2% Using their bodies and various methods of touch, massage therapists relieve client pain and help people relax. This is an in-demand career, with about four times the growth of most jobs. It's in demand because of the aging population, and many health care providers are recognizing the benefits of massage.
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That said, you may not work in, say, a hospital or at a physician's office. Many massage therapists work at hotels, franchised health care clinics and fitness centers. Some are self-employed and visit clients' homes or offices to give massages.
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It's a job that often requires a postsecondary education program of 500 or more hours of study and experience, according to the BLS, although what you're required to do for training is going to hinge upon your state or local jurisdiction's requirements.
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Median Salary: $34,480 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 23% Phlebotomists are blood experts who draw blood cells for medical tests. They also collect it for research and donations. It's the sort of job that's easily accessible to high school graduates, but you do need to get more education.
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Generally, phlebotomists earn certificates from specialized programs at community colleges or technical schools, during which they learn about physiology, anatomy and medical terminology. These programs can last anywhere from eight weeks to a year.
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Median Salary: $38,300 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 5.7% These jacks-of-all-trades take care of a range of systems, from electrical circuits to plumbing and painting. Most maintenance and repair workers develop expertise through apprenticeships and are licensed to work independently.
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If you enjoy fixing things, this could be an interesting, fulfilling career, assuming there's a wide variety of equipment or machines that you're repairing. If, for instance, you're working at a college, an apartment complex or an airport, you could imagine that you'd often be working on different things -- sometimes indoors and sometimes outside -- and not feeling as if every day was the same.
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Median Salary: $26,240 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 22.8% These professionals support physical therapists and physical therapy assistants, often taking on some of the less-skilled work, including sanitizing treatment areas and performing office tasks.
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Many receive on-the-job training, though ultimately you'll likely need to get an associate degree from an accredited program -- and then you'll get your license and certification. There is room for advancement, in the sense that some physical therapist aides continue their education to become physical therapy assistants,
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and if you're interested and able, you could keep continuing your education to eventually become a physical therapist.
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Median Salary: $24,330 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.1% Working in spas and salons, these technicians clean, shape and paint fingernails and toenails. Also called manicurists and pedicurists, these workers complete cosmetology programs, covering topics such as sanitation regulations and learning how to spot and treat nail disorders.
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You'll be required, after the course work, to take a state exam to get your license. Nearly a third of nail technicians are self-employed, while others work in spas and salons. Manicurists and pedicurists must be at least 16 years old and have high school diplomas or the equivalent.
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Median Salary: $31,290 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.9% These workers help clients clean, tone and moisturize their skin. They may perform wax, laser, peel or other procedures. Estheticians complete cosmetology programs and take an exam to get licenses, which most states require for them to practice.
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Most estheticians and skincare specialists work in salons and beauty and health spas, though some are self-employed. It's generally a full-time job, but you can expect to often work evenings and weekends, since that's when your clientele will often be available.
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Median Salary: $40,350 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.7% Medical records technicians organize and manage health information data for doctors and hospitals. They often need to earn certificates after high school to find jobs, though you may be able to find some entry-level positions with just a high school diploma.
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Training programs teach aspiring records technicians about medical terminology, communication, health data standards, classification systems and health care reimbursement methods.
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Median Salary: $55,190 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.4% Electricians install and repair electrical power and other systems in businesses, factories and homes. Training happens on the job or at a technical school, with many states requiring licensure.
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This is a job that can be dangerous -- electricity isn't anything to trifle with. It requires extensive training (often, four years as an apprentice). Mostly, you'll work days -- but evenings and weekends are common. So is overtime, according to the BLS.
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As you would expect, most people in this profession work with an ophthalmologist, helping them see more patients than they otherwise might be able to. Generally, you'll be working at an eye doctor's practice, though you might find work at a hospital or an outpatient care center.
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Median Salary: $42,680 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 63.3% These clean-energy experts build, install and repair solar panels on buildings. Many installers take courses at community colleges, technical schools or as part of an apprenticeship program, although a high school diploma is typically the only educational requirement to get started in this career.
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It's a job that is mostly conducted outside, which may be just as well. When you do work inside, you may be in an attic or crawl space, connecting panels to the electric grid. You also will have to do some traveling, locally and regionally, since you'll always go to the customer, rather than them coming to you.
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They also do a lot of sterilizing of instruments, and they sometimes process oral X-rays and help maintain patient records. Depending on their licensing and certification, dental assistants might help with fluoride and sealant applications and polishing teeth and dentures.
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Median Salary: $50,600 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.2% Insurance agents sell auto, health, home and life insurance. Commercial insurance agents also sell property damage and liability policies, employee and executive coverage and product liability. Insurance is a heavily regulated field, and agents must be licensed by their state.
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But it is a job that's often open to high school graduates, though, yes, many insurance agents are college graduates as well. It's a career for somebody who is analytical, detail-oriented and a people person. After all, you have to both sell to people -- an emotional intelligence skill -- and understand the product.
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Median Salary: $27,860 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 12% This is not a lifelong career, but it is worth thinking about if you have a high school diploma, and you want to go to college and bring down your costs. Residential advisors are students who live in the residence halls of colleges, universities, secondary schools and other similar institutions.
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They're tasked with supervising the residence hall by assisting the residents with their problems, reporting maintenance concerns or organizing community-building gatherings. Often, these jobs are open to juniors and seniors, but if you're an older student with some real world experience, you might find that a university would love to have you as a residential advisor.
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Median Salary: $37,010 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 7.3% After people visit with an eye doctor, an ophthalmologist or an optometrist, they often meet up with the optician -- the person who fits people with glasses or contact lenses. In some states, you will need an associate degree or certificate from a community college or technical school.
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You'll probably work in a store that sells eyewear -- or with an eye doctor at a private practice. If you're at a practice, you'll probably avoid working evenings and weekends. At a retail store, no such luck. Either way, if you like interacting with people, and if helping them with their eyesight interests you, it may be a job you can see yourself in.
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Median Salary: $26,530 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 21.9% Restaurant cooks do it all. They braise, blanch, whisk, garnish and grill. They're generally cooking a several meals at once, and without them, a restaurant would fall apart and go out of business pretty quickly.
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It's a job in which you don't need a college degree. You do, however, need to know a lot about food, if you're going to do well, and if you have formal training and can prepare complicated and delicious meals, you'll probably work at more upscale restaurants and see a higher paycheck.
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Median Salary: $29,420 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 10.4% If you loved playing as a kid, you may love this job -- because, in a way, that's what you're doing. You may be leading people on a hike, teaching them to ride horseback or showing people how to do yoga.
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Recreation and fitness workers are everything from aerobics instructors to camp counselors. A park director or a cruise director might be considered a recreation and fitness worker. Basically, if you help members of the public get exercise, you may be a recreation and fitness worker.
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Median Salary: $49,620 Expected Job Growth by 2028: 5.3% Firefighters are trained to extinguish fires and otherwise rescue people and animals from dangerous situations. But they do even more than that. They rescue people from floods, assist when people are in a medical emergency, pull people out of wrecked cars,
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help cats out of trees and generally are superheroes without actual capes. You don't need a college degree, but you will likely receive training at a fire academy. You'll have tests, written and physical, and you'll be certified as an emergency medical technician.
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Median Salary: $45,900 Expected Job Growth by 2030: 21% Bus drivers often serve members of their community and get them from here to there safely. Other types of bus drivers include school bus drivers and tour bus drivers.
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In this job, it helps to have an easygoing personality and not have a temper. But at the same time, you need to be tough enough to handle hothead passengers and erratic drivers trying to cut you off.
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Median Salary: $43,680 Expected Job Growth by 2030: 32.1% Choreography involves a lot of hard work. You’re on your feet a lot, and the hours can sometimes be long or include evenings and weekends. But when your projects are finished, you get a lot of satisfaction in seeing performers wow an audience and hearing the crowd's applause.
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Not all gigs culminate in glamorous, large-scale shows. You might be a choreographer at a children's dance studio in a small town. Still, wherever you work, you’re helping dancers achieve their dreams. And odds are, you love to dance, too, and so you get to do what you love. This can be a very meaningful, rewarding profession.