A school diploma is not the ticket to a high-paying job that it as soon as was. Conversely, staff and not using a bachelor’s diploma can earn six figures in a variety of occupations, a brand new research finds.

Practically six million full-time staff and not using a bachelor’s diploma earned at the very least $100,000 in 2023, in accordance with a brand new report from Lending Tree, an internet lending market, which analyzed the most recent knowledge from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Neighborhood Survey. The research sheds gentle on the numerous alternate pathways to a high-paying profession that do not require a four-year diploma.

“This report is fairly clear proof that you do not have to go to varsity to earn a very substantial revenue, and in case you are contemplating a special route, there may be loads of purpose to consider that in an terrible lot of fields you will be each bit as profitable, and each bit financially secure with out that faculty diploma,” Matt Schulz, chief shopper finance analyst at Lending Tree, informed CBS MoneyWatch.

The 5.7 million, or 9%, of noncollege staff incomes six-figure salaries labored in a variety of fields, together with software program improvement, truck driving, elevator restore and extra, in accordance with the research. The report comes as younger folks query the worth of a school diploma, and consider whether or not the rewards are price taking over the substantial scholar debt incomes a level usually requires. 

Over the previous 10 years, younger staff within the U.S. and not using a bachelor’s diploma have seen their earnings improve, in accordance with a research from the Pew Analysis Middle. Amid rising tuition prices and mounting scholar debt obligations, 29% of U.S. adults say the price of faculty just isn’t price it, in accordance with the identical research.

The unemployment price for younger individuals who not too long ago earned a university diploma was shut to six% earlier this 12 months, above the nationwide common of 4.2%. That is partially, economists say, as a result of AI is weighing on some younger faculty grads’ future job prospects.

$100,000 and above, and no faculty diploma

Not less than 40% of staff with out bachelor’s levels in 2023 earned six figures in 20 occupations, in accordance with Lending Tree. They included software program builders, gross sales engineers, plane pilots and air site visitors controllers and others. 

Noncollege chief executives have been additionally on the checklist, with 64% incomes at the very least six figures. To make sure, the research does not imply that younger staff ought to anticipate to ascend to executive-level positions with out faculty levels. Fairly, the excessive share of noncollege diploma holders incomes six figures as CEOs seemingly represents staff who’ve began their very own companies, in accordance with Schulz. 

“It speaks to the chance that may come from beginning a small enterprise immediately,” he mentioned. “You are not essentially speaking about Fortune 500 corporations.”

These occupations have the best share of staff with out levels incomes six figures, in accordance with Lending Tree’s evaluation:

• CEOs and legislators
• Architectural and engineering managers
• Software program builders
• Gross sales engineers
• Laptop and data methods managers
• Energy plant operators, distributors and dispatchers
• Elevator installers and repairers
• Laptop community architects
• Laptop {hardware} engineers
• Firefighting supervisors
• Data safety analysts
• Petroleum, mining and geological engineers
• Locomotive engineers and operators
• Plane pilots and flight engineers
• Aerospace engineers
• Electrical power-line installers and repairers
• Air site visitors controllers and airfield operations specialists
• Gross sales managers
• Nuclear drugs technologists and medical dosimetrists

School not required at some corporations

Firms are relying much less closely on a university diploma’s worth too, with many loosening necessities for candidates.

 “For the longest time, a university diploma was a hard-and-fast requirement for roles,” Schulz mentioned. “That is not all the time the case anymore, and that opens up a variety of alternatives for individuals who had doorways closed on them previously.”

The report additionally discovered that San Francisco; Seattle, Washington; and San Jose, California ranked first, second and third because the locations the place staff with out levels have been probably to earn six figures. 

In contrast, in El Paso, Texas; and Greensboro, North Carolina, simply 4.9% of staff with out faculty levels earned six figures.