Four of the five most stressful jobs in the U.S. involve public servants braced every day for battle. And three of those pay less than two of the least stressful jobs in America.
That's according to CareerCast which does an annual list of the 10 most and least stressful jobs. CareerCast.com said it factored in "11 different job demands, which can reasonably be expected to evoke stress, including deadlines, growth potential, physical demands, environmental conditions, hazards encountered, own life at risk, and life of another at risk." Its 2015 rankings include a median income, growth potential and a "job stress index" developed by CareerCast.com.
This year's list is actually fairly distinct from last year's, although such occupations as newspaper reporter, firefighter and TV broadcaster appear on both.
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Following are the Top 10 Most Stressful Occupations, with median salary in parenthesis.
- Firefighter ($45,600)
- Enlisted military personnel ($28,840)
- Military general ($196,300)
- Airline pilot ($98,410)
- Police officer ($56,980)
- Actor ($46,070)
- Broadcaster ($60,070)
- Event planner ($45,810)
- Photo journalist ($42,530)
- Newspaper reporter ($37,090)
The least stressful Top 10 are as follows:
- Hair stylist ($22,770)
- Audiologist ($69,720)
- Tenured college professor ($68,970)
- Medical records technician ($34,160)
- Jeweler ($35,350)
- Medical lab technician ($47,820)
- Seamstress ($25,590)
- Dietician ($55,240)
- Librarian ($55,370)
- Fork lift operator ($31,150)
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
