A high salary in a field with few openings is hard to get into. This guide reads the BLS projections for the associate degree careers in our ranking and shows how to check demand where you live.
Key Takeaways
- Diagnostic medical sonography has the fastest projected growth among these jobs, at 14% from 2025 to 2035. Aerospace technologists follow at 12%.
- Dental hygiene (8%), respiratory therapy (9%), and MRI technology (8%) also project strong growth.
- Nuclear technician (1%) and air traffic controller (2%) grow slowly, but they pay well and openings are steady.
- Growth rates are national. Openings also come from people retiring or leaving the field, so local job postings matter.
Projected growth, 2025 to 2035
These are BLS national projections for employment change from 2025 to 2035, alongside the median pay for May 2025:
- Air traffic controller: $148,075 median, +2% growth.
- Nuclear technician: $110,240 median, +1% growth.
- Radiation therapist: $105,310 median, +3% growth.
- Nuclear medicine technologist: $101,379 median, +4% growth.
- Dental hygienist: $98,093 median, +8% growth.
- Diagnostic medical sonographer: $96,595 median, +14% growth.
- MRI technologist: $95,493 median, +8% growth.
- Aerospace engineering and operations technologist: $82,888 median, +12% growth.
- Respiratory therapist: $82,285 median, +9% growth.
- Radiologic technologist: $80,122 median, +5% growth.
Why growth rates can mislead
A growth rate is the expected change in the number of jobs. It does not count openings from people who retire or leave the field, which are often the larger share of openings. A job with slow growth can still have many openings, while a fast-growing job with few positions can be hard to enter.
What employers look for
Hiring managers in these fields usually prefer candidates who hold current credentials, have completed clinical or technical hours, and can work evening, weekend, or on-call shifts. Patient communication and teamwork matter in every patient-facing role.
Check demand where you live
Use the BLS state and metro employment data to see which occupations are growing in your area. Then read current postings from the largest hospitals, clinics, plants, and employers near you. Ask the program whether its recent graduates are getting hired locally. A program with strong local placement is worth more than one that is only well known nationally. Once you know demand, the career paths guide shows where each job leads next. The full list of occupations, ranked by pay with growth beside each, is on the high-paying associate degree jobs ranking.
See the ranking
The occupation-level pay and growth figures, with their BLS sources and the method used to rank them, are on the high-paying associate degree jobs ranking. Pay and debt for the same jobs are compared in how to compare student debt with starting pay. For the pay you can expect early on, see what associate degree graduates actually earn, and for the credentials behind the top pay, see skills and credentials.
All guides|Source figures: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, unless a section says otherwise.