20 highest-paying jobs

Anesthesiologists take home a median $290,000 salary annually. What other great careers from Money and PayScale.com's list of Best Jobs in America offer big paychecks?

18 of 20
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18. Computer and Information Scientist
Computer and Information Scientist
James Dixon, 41, founder, "chief geek" and CTO for Pentaho, Orlando, Fla.
Best Jobs rank: 35
Median pay: $115,000
Top pay: $167,000

These techies research computer science issues as either theorists, designers or inventors, creating new products and solving hardware and software problems.

"The technology landscape is always changing -- new devices and platforms, new media and applications. Everything is in continual flux, so it's always interesting," says James Dixon, "chief geek" of Pentaho, an open source business intelligence firm in Orlando, Fla. "Plus I can do my job from my laptop, anywhere."

NEXT: Accounting Director

Last updated October 11 2010: 8:13 AM ET
Source: All pay data from PayScale.com
Note: We looked at jobs from the top 100 with the highest top pay. Median salary is for an experienced worker (at least two to seven years in field). Top pay represents the 90th percentile.
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