Top Paying Jobs List Anesthesiologists #1

#1 anesthesiologist take home a median $292,000 salary annually.

The high pay for anesthesiologist reflects inherent stress in a job that is literally about life and death. “anesthesiologist get patients safely and intact through operations while surgeons do things that would otherwise kill them,” says Roger Moore, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The big salaries are also a payback for the 12-plus years of training required before an anesthesiologist can start practicing. By Beth Braverman and Alexis Jeffries

#4 Nurse Anesthetist take home a median $157,000 salary annually.

Like the anesthesiologist to whom they report, nurse anesthetists get paid to never make a mistake. Anesthesia mortality rates have fallen from two deaths per 10,000 in the 1980s to 1 per 200,000 today. That means nurse anesthetists must be at the top of their game, even when working a 2 a.m. shift or staffing the ER on New Year’s Eve.