34 high-paying jobs for people who don't like stress

August 21, 2023

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Computer hardware engineers, physicists, and mathematicians 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 0 means stress tolerance is not at all necessary for an occupation, and 100 suggests a job with a very high-stress environment.

We 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, the most recently available release.

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 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.

34. Postsecondary philosophy and religion teachers

professor teaching

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $87,100

33. Postsecondary mathematical science teachers

professor

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $90,110

32. Ship engineers

Engineers in the engine room of a ship

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $100,980

31. Geoscientists (except hydrologists and geographers)

Geologist, geoscientist

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $104,560

30. Political scientists

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) administers the oath of office to House members and delegates of the U.S. House of Representatives at the start of the 116th Congress inside the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019.

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $126,140

29. Petroleum engineers

petrolum engineer

Importance of stress tolerance: 68

Average annual wage: $142,800

28. Agricultural engineers

Agricultural engineer working in a greenhouse.

Importance of stress tolerance: 67

Average annual wage: $90,710

27. Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes

sports agent

Importance of stress tolerance: 67

Average annual wage: $120,100

26. Orthodontists

Dentist or orthodontist with patient

Importance of stress tolerance: 67

Average annual wage: $216,320

25. Postsecondary education teachers

A professor teaching a class of students.

Importance of stress tolerance: 66

Average annual wage: $78,540

24. Acupuncturists

Acupuncture

Importance of stress tolerance: 66

Average annual wage: $82,390

23. Electronics engineers (except computer)

Electronic engineer working

Importance of stress tolerance: 66

Average annual wage: $118,460

22. Computer hardware engineers

computer hardware

Importance of stress tolerance: 66

Average annual wage: $140,830

21. Computer and information research scientists

computer programmer

Importance of stress tolerance: 66

Average annual wage: $155,880

20. Animal scientists

Scientists with a chicken

Importance of stress tolerance: 65

Average annual wage: $85,870

19. Postsecondary geography teachers

geography map

Importance of stress tolerance: 65

Average annual wage: $87,880

18. Environmental engineers

environmental engineers — Environmental engineers are well-compensated while tending to work in low-stress environments.

Importance of stress tolerance: 65

Average annual wage: $101,670

17. Epidemiologists

Scientist or doctor holding a test tube

Importance of stress tolerance: 64

Average annual wage: $85,880

16. Statisticians

data chart on tablet

Importance of stress tolerance: 64

Average annual wage: $105,510

15. Economists

economist

Importance of stress tolerance: 64

Average annual wage: $128,180

14. Bioengineers and biomedical engineers

Scientist

Importance of stress tolerance: 63

Average annual wage: $108,060

13. Postsecondary economics teachers

Paul Krugman Business Insider

Importance of stress tolerance: 63

Average annual wage: $122,750

12. Food scientists and technologists

food scientist studying plant in a greenhouse

Importance of stress tolerance: 62

Average annual wage: $85,730

11. Hydrologists

hydrologist

Importance of stress tolerance: 62

Average annual wage: $96,300

10. Materials scientists

materials scientists

Importance of stress tolerance: 62

Average annual wage: $110,690

9. Physicists

Physicists

Importance of stress tolerance: 62

Average annual wage: $150,130

8. Soil and plant scientists

soil and plant scientist

Importance of stress tolerance: 61

Average annual wage: $76,410

7. Commercial and industrial designers

A car designer working on a car design.

Importance of stress tolerance: 61

Average annual wage: $81,740

6. Operations research analysts

analyzing data

Importance of stress tolerance: 61

Average annual wage: $95,820

5. Chemical engineers

Chemical engineer

Importance of stress tolerance: 61

Average annual wage: $117,820

4. Geographers

A person with a map

Importance of stress tolerance: 59

Average annual wage: $88,960

3. Mathematicians

mathmetician

Importance of stress tolerance: 56

Average annual wage: $113,860

2. Cartographers and photogrammetrists

Cartographer, photogrammetrist, or civil engineer with survey equipment camera tool

Importance of stress tolerance: 52

Average annual wage: $75,300

1. Models

Kendall Jenner (R) walks the runway during the Versace FW23 Show at Pacific Design Center on March 09, 2023 in West Hollywood, California.

Importance of stress tolerance: 51

Average annual wage: $77,310

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