For decades, aspiring professionals have chased after six-figure careers like banking, law, and consulting. But working for a Big Four firm or Wall Street titan is no longer the surefire way to earn big and hold down a steady gig. Indeed just dropped its best jobs of 2026 ranking—and not every role requires a degree. The majority are in health care, and the top 10 all pay more than $100,000 a year.
Job-seekers might even find more luck hitting the road than trying to get their foot in the door of corporate offices. Owner-operator truck driver came in second on Indeed’s best U.S. jobs of 2026 list, paying $160,000 yearly: the most of any role on the 50-job ranking.
Postings for the gig have shot up 34% since 2023, with 7,529 open roles per 1 million postings on Indeed, signaling high demand for skilled talent.
No college degree is required to land the job—candidates need only a high-level commercial drivers license (CDL), usually acquired through hundreds of hours of behind-the-wheel training. And while McKinsey predicted that 2025 would be an important year for automated trucking deployments, it will be a solid decade until it’s possible for humans to be displaced; it’s projected that fully autonomous trucking won’t reach viability until 2032.
