{"id":25083,"date":"2025-07-21T02:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/25083\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T02:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:19:08","slug":"40-highest-paying-jobs-in-appleton-without-a-college-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/25083\/","title":{"rendered":"40 highest-paying jobs in Appleton without a college degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Stacker) – Gen Z has figured out that college isn\u2019t the only way to land a high-paying job. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 2 in 5 (38.6%) recent high school graduates opted out of college<\/a> in 2023, up from 33.8% in 2019.<\/p>\n

This shift comes at a good time for high school grads, as companies face labor shortages for many jobs that don\u2019t require a college degree. Baby boomers retiring and a trend to reopen factories<\/a> in the United States have both driven demand for young talent. A July 2024 Intelligent report found that 1 in 3 companies have already dropped bachelor\u2019s degree requirements<\/a> across entry-level, mid-tier, and even senior positions to attract more employees.<\/p>\n

The need for skilled workers, regardless of educational attainment, means better pay. Median wages for those with a high school degree are at their highest since 1990<\/a>, according to the New York Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n

At $40,000 on average, these wages are still $20,000 lower than those of a college grad. Yet nearly 1 in 5 workers<\/a> who opt out of college earn more than employees with bachelor\u2019s degrees. Two million high school grads across the U.S. make six-figure annual salaries\u2014without the financial burden of attending a four-year university. As of 2025, the average annual cost<\/a> of college is more than $38,200 per student, and the average college graduate has more than $39,000 in student debt<\/a>. It\u2019s little wonder that, according to a May 2024 survey from Pew Research, 29% of Americans think attending college<\/a> is not worthwhile.<\/p>\n

However, not every career field pays high school grads equally well, and understanding what the good jobs are is the first step to landing one. Stacker<\/a> ranked the 40 highest-paying jobs that don\u2019t require a college degree in Appleton using annual compensation data from the BLS<\/a>. The analysis included jobs that listed a high school diploma, a postsecondary nondegree award, or had no formal education requirements for entry-level positions. Jobs are ranked by their median annual pay as of May 2024, so any jobs without annual compensation figures available were excluded from this analysis.<\/p>\n

#40. CarpentersMedian annual wage: $61,490Median hourly wage: $29.56Total employment: 860 people (6.98 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#39. Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface miningMedian annual wage: $61,650Median hourly wage: $29.64Total employment: 60 people (0.49 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#38. ParamedicsMedian annual wage: $61,930Median hourly wage: $29.77Total employment: 60 people (0.49 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#37. Engine and other machine assemblersMedian annual wage: $61,990Median hourly wage: $29.80Total employment: 110 people (0.87 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#36. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installersMedian annual wage: $62,000Median hourly wage: $29.81Total employment: 270 people (2.21 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#35. Correctional officers and jailersMedian annual wage: $62,050Median hourly wage: $29.83Total employment: 90 people (0.73 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#34. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operatorsMedian annual wage: $62,780Median hourly wage: $30.18Total employment: 90 people (0.73 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#33. Construction and building inspectorsMedian annual wage: $63,050Median hourly wage: $30.31Total employment: 60 people (0.46 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#32. Industrial machinery mechanicsMedian annual wage: $63,190Median hourly wage: $30.38Total employment: 1,050 people (8.44 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#31. Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tendersMedian annual wage: $63,380Median hourly wage: $30.47Total employment: 210 people (1.72 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#30. Elevator and escalator installers and repairersMedian annual wage: $63,430Median hourly wage: $30.50Total employment: 50 people (0.44 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#29. Mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except enginesMedian annual wage: $63,540Median hourly wage: $30.55Total employment: 100 people (0.78 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#28. Cement masons and concrete finishersMedian annual wage: $63,710Median hourly wage: $30.63Total employment: 380 people (3.03 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#27. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific productsMedian annual wage: $64,100Median hourly wage: $30.82Total employment: 1,570 people (12.66 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#26. Insurance sales agentsMedian annual wage: $64,180Median hourly wage: $30.86Total employment: 560 people (4.51 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#25. Surgical technologistsMedian annual wage: $64,400Median hourly wage: $30.96Total employment: 120 people (0.93 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#24. Computer numerically controlled tool programmersMedian annual wage: $64,470Median hourly wage: $31.00Total employment: 50 people (0.4 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#23. Coil winders, tapers, and finishersMedian annual wage: $64,530Median hourly wage: $31.03Total employment: 80 people (0.67 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#22. ElectriciansMedian annual wage: $65,210Median hourly wage: $31.35Total employment: 840 people (6.81 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#21. Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistantsMedian annual wage: $65,640Median hourly wage: $31.56Total employment: 180 people (1.44 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#20. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workersMedian annual wage: $66,560Median hourly wage: $32.00Total employment: 1,030 people (8.34 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#19. Occupational health and safety techniciansMedian annual wage: $67,790Median hourly wage: $32.59Total employment: 30 people (0.24 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#18. Tool and die makersMedian annual wage: $69,170Median hourly wage: $33.26Total employment: 70 people (0.54 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#17. First-line supervisors of production and operating workersMedian annual wage: $74,820Median hourly wage: $35.97Total employment: 1,280 people (10.32 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#16. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operatorsMedian annual wage: $76,010Median hourly wage: $36.54Total employment: 480 people (3.87 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#15. Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigatorsMedian annual wage: $77,830Median hourly wage: $37.42Total employment: 180 people (1.42 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#14. Sheet metal workersMedian annual wage: $78,100Median hourly wage: $37.55Total employment: 360 people (2.87 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#13. Brickmasons and blockmasonsMedian annual wage: $78,700Median hourly wage: $37.84Total employment: 50 people (0.44 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#12. Police and sheriff\u2019s patrol officersMedian annual wage: $79,100Median hourly wage: $38.03Total employment: 360 people (2.87 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#11. MillwrightsMedian annual wage: $80,400Median hourly wage: $38.66Total employment: 90 people (0.72 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#10. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workersMedian annual wage: $82,410Median hourly wage: $39.62Total employment: 810 people (6.53 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#9. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairersMedian annual wage: $82,980Median hourly wage: $39.90Total employment: 580 people (4.72 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#8. Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfittersMedian annual wage: $85,890Median hourly wage: $41.29Total employment: 850 people (6.83 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#7. Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operatorsMedian annual wage: $89,810Median hourly wage: $43.18Total employment: 90 people (0.69 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#6. Transportation, storage, and distribution managersMedian annual wage: $90,400Median hourly wage: $43.46Total employment: 140 people (1.14 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#5. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workersMedian annual wage: $90,960Median hourly wage: $43.73Total employment: 70 people (0.58 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#4. Detectives and criminal investigatorsMedian annual wage: $91,680Median hourly wage: $44.08Total employment: 50 people (0.38 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#3. First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workersMedian annual wage: $94,180Median hourly wage: $45.28Total employment: 310 people (2.46 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#2. First-line supervisors of police and detectivesMedian annual wage: $98,170Median hourly wage: $47.20Total employment: 120 people (0.94 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)#1. Electrical power-line installers and repairersMedian annual wage: $102,970Median hourly wage: $49.50Total employment: 140 people (1.1 of every 1,000 jobs in the area)<\/p>\n

This story features data reporting by Wade Zhou, writing by Jill Jaracz, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 364 metros.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Stacker) – Gen Z has figured out that college isn\u2019t the only way to land a high-paying job.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-25083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}