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10 Jobs With the Best Future Outlook for College Grads—Some Pay More Than $100,000 Per Year

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The number of college graduates in the U.S. continues to grow. In 2011, 41 million people 18 and older had a bachelor's degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2021, that number had jumped to 56 million. This spring, millions more will be joining them.

If you're just entering the job market, this is a particularly good moment to be looking. "The class of 2022 graduated into the hottest job market ever right now," says Sinem Buber, lead economist at ZipRecruiter. "We never had more job openings per unemployed person in U.S. history. There are almost two job openings per unemployed person right now."

When it comes to the longevity of your career, some jobs have a greater outlook for the future than others. ZipRecruiter collected the job titles with the best future outlook that also require a bachelor's degree per Bureau of Labor Statistics projections. These are titles predicted to add tens or hundreds of thousands of new jobs through 2030. The site compiled them for its The Job Market Outlook for Grads report.

Here are the top 10 jobs with the best future outlook, including their median annual salaries according to BLS.

Elementary school teacher

Median annual salary: $61,350

Market research analyst

Median annual salary: $63,920

Accountant

Median annual salary: $77,250

Registered nurse

Median annual salary: $77,600

Management analyst

Median annual salary: $93,000

Project management specialist

Median annual salary: $94,500

Operations manager

Median annual salary: $97,970

Medical and health services manager

Median annual salary: $101,340

Software developer

Median annual salary: $110,140

Financial manager

Median annual salary: $131,710

Some of these jobs may require more degrees or further training, like elementary school teacher. Registered nurses require a bachelor's or associate's in nursing, or a diploma from a nursing program. Both must be licensed by the state.

And if some of these are of interest but the degree you got didn't necessarily cover those subjects, "You can get into them without a traditional four-year degree if you do some kind of certification or boot camp," says Georgene Huang, co-founder and CEO of Fairygodboss. There are plenty of software engineering courses and boot camps online, for example.

Marketing is another one. "There's many, many, many online certifications you can get for marketing," she says. In fact, in that field in particular, "There's a lot of self teaching and experience that can substitute for a degree," she says.

Check out:

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