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Careers with Largest Employment

These are the occupations that employed the most people in 2016 (for states) or 2019 (nationally). You can view this list for any state by changing the location shown to the left.

We found 775 occupations in Washington.

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Rank	Occupation	2016 Employment	Earnings	Typical Education
Rank	Occupation	2016 Employment	Earnings	Typical Education	1	Retail salespersons	105,630	No formal educational credential
2	Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food	81,560		No formal educational credential
3	Office clerks, general	75,490		High school diploma or equivalent
4	Cashiers	67,530		No formal educational credential
5	Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse	65,410		No formal educational credential
6	Software developers, applications	60,500		Bachelor's degree
7	Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	60,290		No formal educational credential
8	Registered nurses	58,080		Bachelor's degree
9	Personal care aides	53,150		High school diploma or equivalent
10	Waiters and waitresses	51,910		No formal educational credential
11	Customer service representatives	51,110		High school diploma or equivalent
12	Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners	51,090		No formal educational credential
13	General and operations managers	49,690		Bachelor's degree
14	Carpenters	45,840		High school diploma or equivalent
15	Teacher assistants	45,480		Some college, no degree
16	Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	42,760		High school diploma or equivalent
17	Construction laborers	40,650		No formal educational credential
18	Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	38,030		Postsecondary non-degree award
19	Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	37,920		Some college, no degree
20	Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	36,790		High school diploma or equivalent
21	Business operations specialists, all other	35,890		Bachelor's degree
22	Accountants and auditors	35,510		Bachelor's degree
23	Maintenance and repair workers, general	35,100		High school diploma or equivalent
24	Stock clerks and order fillers	34,350		High school diploma or equivalent
25	First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	33,800		High school diploma or equivalent
26	Nursing assistants	31,340		Postsecondary non-degree award
27	Elementary school teachers, except special education	30,740		Bachelor's degree
28	Managers, all other	30,740		Bachelor's degree
29	Cooks, restaurant	30,090		No formal educational credential
30	Landscaping and groundskeeping workers	29,940		No formal educational credential
31	First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	29,060		High school diploma or equivalent
32	Management analysts	27,600		Bachelor's degree
33	Maids and housekeeping cleaners	26,330		No formal educational credential
34	Receptionists and information clerks	24,480		High school diploma or equivalent
35	Real estate sales agents	24,350		High school diploma or equivalent
36	Painters, construction and maintenance	22,400		No formal educational credential
37	Electricians	21,870		High school diploma or equivalent
38	First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers	21,770		High school diploma or equivalent
39	Light truck or delivery services drivers	21,470		High school diploma or equivalent
40	Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists	21,380		Postsecondary non-degree award
41	Packers and packagers, hand	20,420		No formal educational credential
42	Food preparation workers	20,260		No formal educational credential
43	Childcare workers	19,670		High school diploma or equivalent
44	Security guards	19,380		High school diploma or equivalent
45	Market research analysts and marketing specialists	19,370		Bachelor's degree
46	Computer systems analysts	18,800		Bachelor's degree
47	Sales representatives, services, all other	18,460		High school diploma or equivalent
48	Computer user support specialists	17,320		Some college, no degree
49	Human resources specialists	17,160		Bachelor's degree
50	Automotive service technicians and mechanics	16,340		Postsecondary non-degree award
51	Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	16,230		Bachelor's degree
52	First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	15,760		High school diploma or equivalent
53	Construction managers	15,750		Bachelor's degree
54	Software developers, systems software	15,670		Bachelor's degree
55	Computer occupations, all other	15,600		Bachelor's degree
56	Lawyers	15,510		Doctoral or professional degree
57	First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	15,200		High school diploma or equivalent
58	Bus drivers, school or special client	15,090		High school diploma or equivalent
59	Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop	14,390		No formal educational credential
60	Financial managers	14,130		Bachelor's degree
61	Bartenders	13,820		No formal educational credential
62	Medical assistants	13,790		Postsecondary non-degree award
63	Computer and information systems managers	13,740		Bachelor's degree
64	Dishwashers	12,630		No formal educational credential
65	Cooks, institution and cafeteria	12,430		No formal educational credential
66	Computer programmers	12,300		Bachelor's degree
67	Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers	12,170		High school diploma or equivalent
68	Billing and posting clerks	12,170		High school diploma or equivalent
69	Civil engineers	12,140		Bachelor's degree
70	Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	12,040		High school diploma or equivalent
71	Self-enrichment education teachers	11,950		High school diploma or equivalent
72	First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers	11,940		High school diploma or equivalent
73	Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	11,840		High school diploma or equivalent
74	Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	11,810		High school diploma or equivalent
75	Marketing managers	11,500		Bachelor's degree
76	Dental assistants	11,360		Postsecondary non-degree award
77	Tellers	10,760		High school diploma or equivalent
78	Machinists	10,700		High school diploma or equivalent
79	Insurance sales agents	10,550		High school diploma or equivalent
80	Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	10,510		Bachelor's degree
81	Production, planning, and expediting clerks	10,450		High school diploma or equivalent
82	Counter and rental clerks	10,310		No formal educational credential
83	Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	10,290		High school diploma or equivalent
84	Industrial truck and tractor operators	10,070		No formal educational credential
85	Preschool teachers, except special education	10,060		Associate's degree
86	Police and sheriff's patrol officers	9,940		High school diploma or equivalent
87	Kindergarten teachers, except special education	9,870		Bachelor's degree
88	Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	9,820		High school diploma or equivalent
89	Network and computer systems administrators	9,510		Bachelor's degree
90	Compliance officers	9,270		Bachelor's degree
91	Home health aides	9,270		High school diploma or equivalent
92	Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors	9,160		High school diploma or equivalent
93	Driver/sales workers	9,040		High school diploma or equivalent
94	Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers	9,020		No formal educational credential
95	Massage therapists	8,820		Postsecondary non-degree award
96	Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	8,590		High school diploma or equivalent
97	Firefighters	8,480		Postsecondary non-degree award
98	Coaches and scouts	8,450		Bachelor's degree
99	Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	8,420		No formal educational credential
100	Sales managers	8,240		Bachelor's degree

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Typical Education

High school diploma or equivalent (312)
Bachelor's degree (166)
Master's degree or higher (99)
Some high school (99)
Some college (52)
Associate's degree (47)

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About this data

Data for this report come from the U.S. Department of Labor.

State-level employment data come from Projections Central and each state's Labor Market Information office, and reflect the years 2016 to 2026.

National employment data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2019-29.

Earnings data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) May 2019 survey.

Typical education data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, Education and training assignments by detailed occupation, 2019.

Learn more about these reports at the Help page below.

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