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Short answer: The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data supports several less-glamorous occupations with median pay above $130,000, but it does not verify a complete list of 13 jobs that all clear that mark or prove that employers are “desperate” to hire for them. A median wage is not an entry-level promise, and projected openings are not the same as unfilled vacancies. The defensible way to use this idea is to check each occupation’s wage, outlook, training, geography and working conditions separately.
Why the headline needs a careful reading
“Boring” is a point of view, not a job category
BLS does not classify occupations as boring, exciting or secret. The word describes how visible a job seems to a particular reader. A role may be routine to an outsider while involving difficult decisions, technical judgment or substantial responsibility for the people doing it. The useful question is not whether workers find the job dull; it is why the occupation receives less public attention than its pay or demand might suggest.
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$130,000 is a median, not a guaranteed salary
The BLS wage figures cited here are 2025 median annual pay estimates from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. A median is the midpoint: half of workers in the occupation earned more and half earned less. It does not describe a new graduate’s first offer, a particular state, a specific employer or a remote position. Experience, industry, location, work setting and credentials can move an individual’s pay well above or below the national midpoint. Always open the occupation’s BLS profile before treating a figure as a personal earning forecast.
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BLS projections describe expected employment change and average annual openings. They do not, by themselves, measure today’s unfilled vacancies, recruiting difficulty, signing bonuses or an employer’s urgency. Annual openings also include replacement demand when people transfer to another occupation or leave the labor force. Calling a field desperate requires current vacancy or hiring evidence in a defined geography, not just a large projection number.
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Occupations with a documented $130,000-plus median
The current BLS 2025–35 tables provide a solid starting point, but they do not establish the promised 13-job list. The occupations below are the examples for which the supplied figures identify a 2025 median above $130,000 and explain how the job appears in the outlook tables.
| Occupation | 2025 median annual pay | How BLS presents it | What the figure does not prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer and information research scientists | $140,300 | Listed in the 2025–35 fastest-growing occupations table | It is not an entry-level guarantee and does not establish a shortage in every location. |
| Physician assistants | $135,880 | Listed in the 2025–35 fastest-growing occupations table | The national median does not show what a particular specialty, employer or state pays. |
| Software developers | $135,980 | Included in the 2025–35 occupations with the most projected new jobs | A large number of new jobs is not the same as a high percentage growth rate or a current labor emergency. |
| Computer and information systems managers | $175,140 | Included in the 2025–35 occupations with the most projected new jobs | The median does not mean that every manager, team or industry reaches six figures. |
Computer and information research scientists
At $140,300, this occupation clears the headline threshold by a meaningful margin. Its placement in the fastest-growing table means BLS expects a high percentage increase in employment over the projection decade. That ranking answers a rate-of-growth question; it does not say that the occupation will add the most total jobs or that every employer is struggling to fill positions. The work can be easy for the general public to overlook because it sits behind products, algorithms and systems rather than in a customer-facing role.
Physician assistants
The 2025 median for physician assistants is $135,880, also in the fastest-growing occupations table. The occupation is tied to clinical care, so its outlook can be influenced by population health needs and how medical practices organize services. A national median still leaves important questions unanswered: the state’s licensing rules, the practice setting, specialty, schedule and experience level. Those details belong in the occupation profile and in a specific job posting, not in a headline number.
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Software developers
Software developers show why readers must distinguish “most new jobs” from “fastest growing.” BLS lists a 2025 median of $135,980 in its most-new-jobs table. That table ranks occupations by projected numeric employment change, so the result reflects the expected number of additional positions rather than the percentage change from a small base. Software work may look ordinary once it is embedded in a product, but the median applies across the occupation and does not guarantee a particular programming specialty, seniority or employer will pay that amount.
Computer and information systems managers
With a 2025 median of $175,140, this is the highest-paid example in the supplied figures. It also appears in the most-new-jobs table. Management responsibility, organization size and industry can produce wide pay differences around a national midpoint. The table indicates projected numeric expansion, not a promise that qualified applicants can walk into a position without relevant experience or that every region has the same hiring pressure.
Important near-misses and counterexamples
Information security analysts: close, but below the line
Information security analysts have a 2025 median annual wage of $129,180 in the current fastest-growing table. That is $820 below $130,000. Rounding it up or describing it as “$130,000-plus” would change the evidence. It is a useful reminder to check the actual occupation-specific figure rather than infer pay from a specialized-sounding title or strong projected growth.
Elevator and escalator installers and repairers: openings without a $130,000 median
BLS reports a 2025 median of $109,910 for elevator and escalator installers and repairers, with about 1,900 projected openings per year on average from 2025 through 2035. That is a substantial skilled-trade opportunity, but it does not meet the salary claim. The profile says most workers learn through an apprenticeship and that most states require licensing. The work can involve cramped spaces and heights. BLS attributes many openings to workers transferring or leaving the labor force, which demonstrates why an openings count cannot automatically be labeled desperation.
What the BLS outlook tables actually measure
Fastest-growing occupations
BLS defines this table as the occupations projected to have the highest percentage increase in employment over the projections decade. Percentage growth can be impressive in a relatively small occupation. A high rate therefore does not necessarily produce a large number of vacancies or a large occupational workforce.
Occupations with the most new jobs
BLS defines this table as the occupations projected to add the most new jobs over the projections decade. Large occupations can rank highly because a modest percentage increase applied to a big workforce creates many additional positions. This is why software developers and computer and information systems managers can appear in the same discussion even though the table is answering a different question from the fastest-growing list.
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Annual openings
An annual openings estimate combines jobs created by employment growth with positions that become available when existing workers move elsewhere or leave the labor force. It is a planning measure averaged over the projection period, not a live count of advertisements or unfilled requisitions. To establish a shortage, you would need current evidence such as vacancy duration, employer recruiting data or occupation-specific labor-market conditions for the location you care about.
How to test any “boring six-figure job” claim
- Identify the exact occupation. Match the article’s label to the BLS occupation title. Similar-sounding jobs can have different duties, wages and outlooks.
- Check the wage vintage. Confirm that the number is the 2025 median from the current 2025–35 tables, and note whether a source is using an older projection period.
- Separate median pay from starting pay. Look for experience, education, certification and work-setting differences in the BLS profile. A midpoint for all workers cannot be used as a first-year salary promise.
- Read the outlook measure correctly. Decide whether the claim relies on percentage growth, total new jobs or annual openings. Do not substitute one measure for another.
- Investigate geography. National medians hide regional variation. Compare the occupation’s wage and hiring conditions with the state or metropolitan area where you intend to work.
- Price the entry path. Include schooling, supervised training, examinations, licensing, relocation and unpaid or lower-paid early experience. A high median may require a long runway.
- Inspect the working conditions. Schedule, heights, confined spaces, clinical exposure, on-call duties and management pressure can matter as much as the wage.
- Look for current hiring evidence. If an article says employers are desperate, ask whether it cites current vacancy, retention or recruiting data for a defined market rather than only a projection.
Why demand forecasts can look strong without proving a shortage
The BLS August 2025 release projected 5.2 million net additions to U.S. employment from 2024 to 2034. That older projection vintage also identified healthcare and social assistance as the fastest-growing industry sector, with demand partly connected to an aging population and chronic conditions. Those structural forces help explain why some healthcare occupations have strong outlooks, but they do not show that every employer currently cannot hire.
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What a trustworthy 13-job article would need to show
A genuine list of 13 occupations should publish the occupation definition, 2025 median wage, projection percentage, projected numeric change, annual openings, entry education or apprenticeship, licensing, experience expectations, work conditions and geography for every row. It should keep the data vintage consistent and label exceptions. It should also distinguish occupations that clear $130,000 from near-misses such as information security analysts and from high-opening occupations such as elevator installers that fall below the threshold.
Without those row-by-row figures, a list can create false precision. It may combine a high national median from one occupation with an openings estimate from another, treat projected growth as a live shortage, or round $129,180 into $130,000. The result sounds actionable but can send a career changer toward a path that does not fit their location, credentials or tolerance for the work.
A practical decision rule for readers
Use the salary threshold as a screening question, not a conclusion. First verify that the occupation’s current median actually exceeds $130,000. Next decide whether you can meet the training, licensing and experience requirements and accept the work environment. Then check local postings and local wage data. Finally, treat BLS projections as a long-term signal about employment change, not as proof of immediate hiring desperation.
On the evidence available, four named occupations meet the stated median threshold: computer and information research scientists, physician assistants, software developers, and computer and information systems managers. Information security analysts are just below it, while elevator and escalator installers and repairers show how meaningful openings can coexist with a median under $130,000. That is a more accurate picture than presenting an unverified set of 13 supposedly secret, desperate-to-fill jobs.
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