10 jobs most likely to provide a pay raise

Other specialist dentists—a cluster that includes dentists who are not general dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, or prosthodontists—hold the #2 spot for salary increases. As of 2020, just 5,610 people on average made a career as this kind of specialist dentist, according to the BLS. Those in the field saw a 25% salary increase between 2019 and 2020.

In third place are motorboat operators, a field with an average salary of $55,910 that also experienced double-digit income growth. These workers saw paychecks of 16% more from 2019 to 2020.

Next in line are photographers, who experienced a salary increase of 14% from 2019 to 2020, from $36,280 to $41,280.

Rounding out the top five are legislators, who saw a 13% pay increase from 2019 to 2020, from $29,270 to $33,200. Employment in this occupation is projected to grow 6.2% from 2019 to 2029, according to the BLS.

 For women, the top career with a high potential for pay raises are occupations such as producers and directors, which brought in a 34% salary increase from 2019 to 2020. For men, it's bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, who saw a 40% increase in their paychecks.

Producer and director salaries are projected to grow by 10% from 2019 to 2029, according to the BLS. Income increases coupled with fast-track growth justify this occupation leading our list of highest pay raise potentials for women.

From 2019 until 2029, BLS reports a projected employment growth of 25% for operations research analysts (#3 on our list), an occupation that experienced a 23% pay increase for women between 2019 and 2020.

The #10 spot is held by public relations specialists, with salaries expected to grow by 7.2% from 2019 to 2029. Women public relations specialists saw their median salary increase by 16% from 2019 to 2020, from $65,260 to $75,504. The 90th percentile for medical scientists of all genders earned $118,210 in 2020.

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks take the lead for pay raises among men, with the median salary increasing by 40%, from $40,768 to $57,252. Although salaries for these occupations grew in 2020, the number of jobs is projected to decrease by 6.0% from 2019 to 2029.

In comparison, our runner-up, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, saw their pay increase by 36% from 2019 to 2020, from $72,072 to $97,760. To make the occupation even more attractive, the number of jobs in the occupation is projected to increase by 3.7% from 2019 to 2029.

Rounding out our top 10 for men, we have registered nurses who saw a 16% salary increase from 2019 to 2020. These occupations earned a median salary of $75,608 in 2020, and the number of jobs in the occupation is expected to grow by 7.2% from 2019 to 2029, according to the BLS.

Not all careers reliably boost an employee's finances. Overall, farm labor contractors saw the steepest salary decline from 2019 to 2020, dropping by 22.82% from $61,910 to $47,780.

For men, the cluster of occupations farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers had the largest salary decline. Salaries for these occupations dropped 24.78% from 2019 to 2020, from $60,424 to $45,448.

For women, lawyers experienced the deepest salary decline among other occupations. These careers saw an 11% decline in salary between 2019 and 2020, from $97,656 to $86,580.