The High-Paying Jobs That Are Surprisingly Low in Stress

PHOTO: ISTOCK

The High-Paying Jobs That Are Surprisingly Low in Stress

by Sara Nachlis

Nov 13, 2016

The higher you climb on the corporate ladder, the more money you make, but you also take on a lot of stress.

Well, maybe not.

Turns out you might just be in the wrong field.

According to Business Insider, Using data gathered from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the U.S. Occupational Information Network (O*NET), career information expert Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., compared the average 2014 salaries and stress levels of the 767 occupations identified by the U.S. Department of Labor and identified the jobs that have the best combination of low stress and high pay.

"Stress Tolerance" (how often workers have to accept criticism and deal with high stress situations at work) was rated on a scale from zero to 100, with a lower rating meaning less stress.

In order from highest to lowest stress tolerance score, here are the top five jobs that pay over $70,000 a year on average and earned a stress tolerance rating of 60 or below:

Statistician

Stress tolerance: 59.0

Average 2014 annual salary: $84,010

Education: Graduate degree for most positions

Being a statistician sounds stressful when you think of the position in relation to last week's election, but apparently statisticians in business, engineering, science, and other fields find solace and less stress in the numbers they crunch.

Economist

Stress tolerance: 58.7

Average 2014 annual salary: $105,290

Education requirements: Bachelor’s degree.

Perhaps the one job not affected by a recession is an economist. When the economy is good or bad we look to economists to know why. As long as there are businesses, there will be economists to study how they work.

Geographer

Stress tolerance: 58.0

Average 2014 annual salary: $75,610

Education requirements: Master’s degree for most positions, though some entry-level government jobs require only a bachelor’s degree.

Bad news for anyone who can't tell you where anywhere is in the world in relation to anywhere else (read: me), Spending time exploring the nature and use of the Earth by human beings is apparently a very lucrative profession.

Mathematician

Stress tolerance: 57.2

Average 2014 annual salary: $104,350

Education requirements: Those who want to work in government need a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and a Ph.D may be required for private company work.

Anyone else hearing their father saying 'I told you so' in their ear? Numbers don't lie, so numbers can't stress you out. Someone pass me a calculator.

Materials Scientist

Stress tolerance: 53.0

Average 2014 annual salary: $94,350

Education requirements: At least a bachelor’s degree, though a master’s degree or Ph.D. is needed for many research jobs.

Who knew developing and improving products through atomic and molecular research, i.e. making the world a better place, could be so fulfilling?

In case anyone was wondering, women's lifestyle writer is not on this list, but there are 20 other low stress, high income positions. Check out the full list at Business Insider.