10 High-Paying Jobs That Nobody Wants

People want to earn a lot of money from their careers. It’s a given whether that’s their prioritized goal in choosing a profession or just an added perk. It leaves you to wonder how much power the value of a paycheck has in a rather undesirable job.

Before assuming that you would be willing to do just about anything for a buck, read through the following ten jobs that pay surprisingly well but still go widely unwanted due to the work’s nature.

1. Sanitation Worker Jobs (Overview)

2. Exterminator Jobs (Overview)

3. Sanitary Landfill Operator Jobs (Overview)

4. Truck Driver Jobs (Overview)

5. Embalmer Jobs (Overview)

6. Coal Miner Jobs (Overview)

7. Oil Rig Driller Jobs (Overview)

8. Elevator Repairer Jobs (Overview)

10 High-Paying Jobs That Nobody Wants

1. Sanitation worker

   Average Annual Salary: $28,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma

   Unemployment rate: 5.8%

   The number of jobs: 11,700

   When most people imagine their professional days, that picture doesn’t include handling other people’s trash on a daily basis, but that’s the job of a sanitation worker. Coupled with needing to arrive at work by 6 AM, it doesn’t sound like the most attractive career option.

   While the job often requires a lot of strenuous and often smelly tasks, it also comes with an impressive payout. Sanitation workers earn over the national average salary, especially if they’re working in highly populated, large cities. The role also provides the enticing benefits that come with being a government employee.

Find Sanitation worker jobs near me

2. Exterminator

   Average Annual Salary: $33,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma and licensing

   Job growth rate: +9%

   The number of jobs: 87,000

   Generally, creepy crawlers in all their varieties are avoided at all costs, but exterminators charge headfirst towards the issue.

   Exterminators, also known as professional pest control workers, inspect commercial and residential properties for indications of a pest infestation and treat the problem if it’s detected. Some of the charming species that they work with include cockroaches, termites, hornets, and rats.

   Being forced to spend most of your days scouring buildings for rodents and insects is a big enough con to send the majority of job-seekers running in the opposite direction.

   Those who can look past having critters as a co-worker can expect a comfortable career making more than the national average. The field is also expected to grow exponentially in the next ten years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Find Exterminator jobs near me

3. Sanitary landfill operator

   Average Annual Salary: $47,000

   Education requirements: At least a high school diploma or GED

   Unemployment rate: 6.5%

   If you weren’t thrilled at the idea of handling the trash as a sanitation worker, you likely wouldn’t be interested in working as a sanitary landfill operator either.

   The job of a sanitary landfill operator takes place at a landfill site, which is an area of land that’s dedicated to the sole purpose of storing waste. Their daily duties involve using heavy machinery, like bulldozers, to tunnel through and transport the piles of rubbish.

   They’re also responsible for poison and chemical administration to the landfill sites to reduce the risk of disease or live pests. In addition to the unsavory working environment, spending a career’s worth of time exposed to waste products could be dangerous health-wise without the proper precautions.

   These qualities contribute to its status as an off-putting position to the general public, despite being a high-paying job.

Find Sanitary landfill operator jobs near me

4. Hazardous material removal worker

   Average Annual Salary: $43,000-$51,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent

   Job growth rate: +8%

   The number of jobs: 45,000

   Working as a hazardous material removal worker is a broad title that encompasses a few disturbing and potentially dangerous jobs. Some of these employees’ responsibilities involve the handling and removal of toxic substances, such as asbestos, lead, and radioactive waste.

   While these duties sound terrifying enough, another facet of this field involves a job title called “crime scene clean up.” These are individuals who come in after crime scene investigators have evaluated brutal scenes to clean the remnants of whatever is left behind.

   This could include the residual hazardous materials from violent attacks, suicides, and even murders.

   As you can imagine, the duties of being a hazardous material removal worker can take a toll on a person, which makes it a less popular job option. However, if you have a strong stomach and the ability to separate yourself from the work you’re doing, the career can award financial benefits.

5. Truck driver

   Average Annual Salary: $51,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma or GED

   Unemployment rate: 7.7%

   The number of jobs: 2,000,000

   Unless you have the stamina to do long-haul drives across various states, then becoming a truck driver probably isn’t for you. The job involves transporting materials from between locations in a tractor-trailer.

   A truck driver’s duties also include loading cargo, inspecting trucks before and after driving, and drafting relevant paperwork.

   Truck drivers are expected to set off on drives that take days at a time and sleep in their vehicle, which doesn’t make it the best opportunity for someone who wants to return home to their bed at night. Additionally, the occupation can be lonely as you’re spending most days driving by yourself.

   While there are quite a few difficult aspects to being a truck driver, the job accounts for this by being well paid. After a few years of experience, they can be expected to make upwards of $70,000 a year.

Find Truck driver jobs near me

6. Embalmer

   Average Annual Salary: $38,000

   Education requirements: Bachelor’s degree in Mortuary Science

   Unemployment rate: 0.2%

   The number of jobs: 3,890

   Before loved ones can say their final goodbye at a funeral, the body of the deceased needs to be prepared for viewing. A responsibility that comes down to embalmers.

   There are a lot of tasks that go into prepping a dead body for a funeral that most people prefer not to think about, like gluing eyelids shut and injecting embalming fluid into arteries.

   The disturbing undertakings associated with being an embalmer are enough to make most people squirm, let alone consider it as a career. The folk who don’t mind the idea of getting up close and personal with the recently deceased are looking at a lucrative career that’ll never go out of business.

   With people dying every day, embalming has an ultra-low unemployment rate of 0.2%

Find Embalmer jobs near me

7. Coal miner

   Average Annual Salary: $46,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma

   Unemployment rate: 9.3%

   The number of jobs: 50,000

   There are a lot of dangerous stipulations that come along with being a coal miner for a living. While the fatalities on the job have been steadily decreasing over the years, there are still a little under a hundred deaths a year.

   Even without the possibility of an accident, coal miners encounter a lot of gaseous and chemical risks in their years working. This often leads to debilitating health problems after committing a lifetime to the industry.

   In addition to the health risks associated with the position, being a coal miner doesn’t provide the most glamorous work environment. It can be dark, dirty, and stuffy, especially when working in a mine that’s underground.

   These characteristics of the position have resulted in fewer people wanting to work as coal miners, regardless of the large earning potential.

Find Coal miner jobs near me

8. Oil well rig driller

   Average Annual Salary: $70,000

   Education requirements: No formal education required

   Job growth rate: +3%

   The number of jobs: 132,000

   An oil well rig worker works on shorelines or at sea and endures extremely torturous circumstances to collect their potentially six-figure paycheck. Since the job takes place aboard a boat, the average shift lasts approximately twelve hours on a rotating schedule and can take place during widely varied hours.

   On Tuesday, your shift might be from midnight until noon, but on Friday, you will work from 3 PM to 3 AM.

   During those long hours, oil well rig workers can expect to be used to their fullest capacity, doing tasks like cleaning, maintaining pipes, and operating the rotary drill rig if they’re high-ranking enough.

   Spending months out of the year on an uncomfortable boat isn’t everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to a work experience. It doesn’t provide much work-life balance, and living at sea is dangerous and exhausting.

   However, it does award the opportunity to bring in a hefty salary after working your way up the ranks with few education requirements.

Find Oil well rig driller jobs near me

9. Elevator repairer

   Average Annual Salary: $77,000

   Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent

   Job growth rate: +7%

   The number of jobs: 28,900

   Most children don’t grow up with the ambition of becoming an elevator installer and repairer when they grow up, but if they knew how much expertise in this field makes a year, they might be more inclined to consider it as a career path.

   The responsibilities of an elevator installer and repairer are basically what the title insinuates. They use blueprints to assemble the moving pieces of a transportation device that buildings have become practically reliant on.

   While the position might not sound too exciting, an elevator installer and repairer position provide a fairly high starting salary of $70,000 per year. With a little practical experience in the field, you can expect to make over six figures working in elevator installation and maintenance.

Find Elevator repairer jobs near me

10. Crab fisher

    Average Annual Salary: $50,000-$200,000

    Education requirements: No formal education required

    Job growth rate: -8%

    The number of jobs: 36,000

    While eating a full serving of crab is a luxury for consumers, the process of getting it from ocean to plate is a grueling task taken on by crab fishers. The job requires its employees to work for months in the cold, harsh seas, facing some of the most dangerous storms known to man.

    The duties of a crab fisher require a high level of physical strength to haul in massive amounts of crab during the viable season and brave unforgiving storms. Crab fishers are also confined to working during a small season each year and in very particular places, like Alaska and Seattle.

    The strict requirements of being a crab fisher and the potential for danger keep most people searching for alternative job openings. While the profession definitely isn’t made for everyone, it doesn’t require any formal education, and successful crab fishers can earn well over $100,000 per year.

Author

Sky Ariella

Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.