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The 25 highest-paying blue collar jobs

Posted at 3:15 PM, Feb 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-19 15:15:25-05

Blue collar workers are known for doing the dirty jobs many of us take for granted. They roll up their sleeves, get dirt under their fingernails and wipe sweat off their brow with the back of their hand. These hard-working individuals are often underappreciated and, even worse, underpaid. Fortunately, there are labor-intensive jobs out there that reward their employees with higher wages. Using the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center, CareerTrends has found the 25 highest-paying blue collar jobs in America. Data is collected via surveys sent out to employers. Employment data is from May 2014, while salary data is from June 2015.

What exactly is a blue collar job? We searched for all jobs listed in the following fields: construction and extraction, farming, fishing, forestry, installation, maintenance, repair, production, transportation and material moving. For this list, we only included occupations with at least 10,000 full-time employees.
#25. Biofuels Processing Technicians

Total employees: 12,000 Average salary: $50,304

#24. Railroad Conductors

Total employees: 42,900 Average salary: $50,363

#23. Robotics Technicians

Total employees: 14,430 Average salary: $51,041

#22. Locomotive Engineers

Total employees: 38,470 Average salary: $52,041

#21. Electrical & Electronics Drafters

Total employees: 29,390 Average salary: $52,194

#20. Production Supervisors

Total employees: 592,830 Average salary: $52,271

#19. Surveyors

Total employees: 41,970 Average salary: $52,322

#18. Avionics Technicians

Total employees: 17,150 Average salary: $52,671

#17. Electrical Engineering Technologists

Total employees: 68,000 Average salary: $54,067

#16. Subway Operators

Total employees: 11,300 Average salary: $54,471

#15. Petroleum Pump Operators

Total employees: 41,700 Average salary: $54,492

#14. Boilermakers

Total employees: 17,210 Average salary: $54,942

#13. Solar Energy Installation Managers

Total employees: 496,370 Average salary: $55,598

#12. Cartographers

Total employees: 11,610 Average salary: $55,932

#11. Mechanics Supervisors

Total employees: 434,810 Average salary: $56,133

#10. Aerospace Engineering Technicians

Total employees: 11,230 Average salary: $58,961

#9. Gas Plant Operators

Total employees: 16,320 Average salary: $59,388

#8. Landscape Architects

Total employees: 18,110 Average salary: $60,696

#7. Transportation Inspectors

Total employees: 24,350 Average salary: $62,018

#6. Power-Line Installers

Total employees: 114,540 Average salary: $62,094

#5. Power Plant Operators

Total employees: 40,300 Average salary: $62,908

#4. Water Vessel Captains

Total employees: 30,690 Average salary: $63,032

#3. Powerhouse Equipment Installers

Total employees: 22,120 Average salary: $67,128

#2. Elevator Installers

Total employees: 20,590 Average salary: $68,792

#1. Power Distributors

Total employees: 11,180 Average salary: $73,446