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Economy
Madison Hoff
- There are many jobs that are both well-paid and offer a relaxing work environment.
- Business Insider analyzed jobs with relatively low-stress work situations and make at least $75,000 annually on average.
- That includes models, geographers, and a few postsecondary teachers based on our analysis.
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Environmental engineers, geographers, and materials scientists all pay well and can be considered less stressful jobs compared to many other occupations.
The Department of Labor's O*NET OnLine occupational database includes survey-based measurements of how important various skills, activities, and personal traits are for a particular job.
One of the characteristics measured is stress tolerance, which O*NET describes as jobs requiring "accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations." O*NET scores job characteristics like stress tolerance on a scale from 0 to 100, where a 0 means stress tolerance is not at all necessary for an occupation, and 100 suggests a job with a very high-stress environment.
Business Insider ranked occupations from most to least stressful using O*NET's stress tolerance score, with lower scores indicating less stressful jobs. Since we are interested in high-paying jobs, we looked at occupations that had stress tolerance scores available and with average annual salaries of at least $75,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data for May 2022.
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Several of the jobs fell in academia, including postsecondary teachers in various fields and researchers in economics, statistics, mathematics, and materials science. For instance, postsecondary economics teachers had a stress tolerance score of 63 and had an average annual wage of $122,750.
Based on the available data we used, models ranked No. 1 on our list. This job had a stress tolerance score of 51 and an average annual wage of $77,310. If we used median data for our pay metric instead of averages, then models would not have made the list — if we still looked at occupations making at least $75,000. That's because models had a median annual wage of $43,130.
The jobs below were ranked from most to least stressful. In the case of a tied stress tolerance score, we ranked by average annual wages. For instance, a few high-paying occupations had a stress tolerance score of 68, such as geoscientists and postsecondary mathematical science teachers.
Andy Kiersz previously contributed to this story.
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37. Postsecondary philosophy and religion teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $87,100
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36. Postsecondary mathematical science teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $90,110
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35. Ship engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $100,980
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34. Database administrators
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $102,530
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33. Geoscientists (except hydrologists and geographers)
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $104,560
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32. Political scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $126,140
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31. Database architects
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $136,540
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30. Petroleum engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 68
Average annual wage: $142,800
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29. Agricultural engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual wage: $90,710
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28. Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes
Importance of stress tolerance: 67
Average annual wage: $120,100
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27. Postsecondary education teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $78,540
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26. Acupuncturists
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $82,390
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25. Electronics engineers (except computer)
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $118,460
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24. Computer hardware engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $140,830
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23. Computer and information research scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 66
Average annual wage: $155,880
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22. Animal scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $85,870
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21. Postsecondary geography teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $87,880
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20. Environmental engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 65
Average annual wage: $101,670
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19. Epidemiologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $85,880
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18. Statisticians
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $105,510
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17. Economists
Importance of stress tolerance: 64
Average annual wage: $128,180
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16. Bioengineers and biomedical engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual wage: $108,060
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15. Postsecondary economics teachers
Importance of stress tolerance: 63
Average annual wage: $122,750
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14. Food scientists and technologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $85,730
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13. Hydrologists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $96,300
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12. Materials scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $110,690
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11. Physicists
Importance of stress tolerance: 62
Average annual wage: $150,130
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10. Soil and plant scientists
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $76,410
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9. Commercial and industrial designers
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $81,740
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8. Operations research analysts
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $95,820
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7. Chemical engineers
Importance of stress tolerance: 61
Average annual wage: $117,820
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6. Geographers
Importance of stress tolerance: 60
Average annual wage: $88,960
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5. Computer systems analysts
Importance of stress tolerance: 60
Average annual wage: $107,530
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4. Actuaries
Importance of stress tolerance: 57
Average annual wage: $127,580
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3. Mathematicians
Importance of stress tolerance: 56
Average annual wage: $113,860
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2. Cartographers and photogrammetrists
Importance of stress tolerance: 52
Average annual wage: $75,300
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1. Models
Importance of stress tolerance: 51
Average annual wage: $77,310
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