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The health sector holds many of the best job opportunities for workers in 2025, due to factors like high labor demand and pay, according to a new ranking from job search site Indeed.
Health care roles account for six of the top 25 jobs for 2025, according to Indeed: veterinarian (ranked No. 1), physician (No. 3), clinical psychologist (No. 8), radiologist (No. 14), registered nurse (No. 18) and director of clinical services (No. 22).
That’s the highest share of top jobs relative to other sectors, and the second year in a row health care dominated the list.
Indeed’s analysis looked at professions that met three criteria: a minimum salary of $75,000 per year, growth of at least 20% in postings on the site over the last three years and offerings of remote or hybrid roles for at least 5% of postings. The jobs are ranked by their share of postings on Indeed.
Health care has seen “extremely, extremely rapid” job growth, said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.
“It is just relentless,” Pollak said. “It’s extremely robust and consistent, and we don’t see any slowdown at all.”
The U.S. economy added 902,000 health care and social assistance jobs in 2024 — more than double the closest competing segment, government, which added 480,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Total employment in health care occupations is “projected to grow much faster than the average” for all U.S. jobs from 2023 to 2033, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Ample job opportunity in the sector stems from many factors, said Jennifer Herrity, a career expert at Indeed.
For example, an aging U.S. population increases the need for health care; retirements among workers in the health field have created shortages in some roles; and health care jobs are at a lower risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence than those in other industries like software developers and engineers, Herrity said.
‘Surprisingly high’ salaries, high barrier to entry
Strong labor demand has contributed to many health care jobs being “surprisingly high paying,” Pollak said.
For example, radiologists earn a median annual salary of about $385,000, the top-paying job on Indeed’s list. The typical physician earns $225,000 a year, the second-highest salary of the bunch.
“High salaries and a history of stability make health care a highly attractive field, albeit with a high barrier to entry, especially for roles like radiology, which require a minimum of 13 years of school,” Indeed wrote about its 2025 list.
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The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump may bring a shake-up to the health care sector, though.
For example, Trump and Republican allies may cut federal spending for Medicaid or allow Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire to raise money for other policy priorities like tax cuts, which could lower health care demand.
Conversely, mass deportations could exacerbate labor shortages and lead to higher pay. Immigrants accounted for 18% of health care workers in 2021, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Job seekers hoping to “cash in on high-paying and fast-growing jobs without a long-term investment in education” can perhaps look outside the health sector, in an occupation such as a sales representative, Indeed said. Many companies hiring sales reps may consider applicants with a high school diploma and the right mix of skills, it said. Sales reps make a $182,000 median annual salary, according to Indeed.