Key Takeaways
- New research from resume.io ranks the scariest jobs in the U.S. by median salary.
- Researchers analyzed 23 U.S. occupations associated with fear, danger, death or the macabre.
You might find the idea of working for decades before you can retire a bit frightening, but is your job scary enough to be someone’s Halloween costume?
New research from AI-powered career platform resume.io explores some of the “scariest” jobs in the U.S. — and which ones pay the most.
Researchers analyzed 23 U.S. occupations associated with fear, danger, death or the macabre, assigning each a fear score from 0 to 100.
The score averages six O*NET Work Context measures: exposure to disease or infections, exposure to hazardous conditions, exposure to contaminants, exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites or stings, dealing with physically aggressive people, and the consequences of making an error. Jobs scoring 40 or higher earned the “scary” designation.
The “scary” job with the highest salary: $335,550 a year
The “scary” job with the highest salary? That would be emergency room physician, which scored 100 on exposure to disease or infection and 64.8 on overall fear score, with a median salary of $335,550 — 558% higher than the national median.
Of course, landing that particular role and its lucrative salary requires a significant investment in time and money. Emergency room physicians must attend college and medical school, and the average medical school debt balance in 2026 is $227,514 among new indebted graduates, according to the Education Data Initiative.
Pathologist and police detective took the second and third spots on the list of the highest-paying “scary” jobs in the U.S. Pathologist had an overall fear score of 49.2 and a median salary of $312,400. Police detective had an overall fear score of 60.3 and median salary of $93,790.
Fear and pay don’t always go hand in hand.
“Fear and pay don’t always go hand in hand,” Amanda Augustine, resident career expert at resume.io, said. “Some of the scariest and physically demanding jobs in the country pay less than the average American earns, while the highest salaries go to roles that combine risk with years of specialized training.
Check out the infographic below for the full ranking of the highest-paying “scary” jobs in the U.S.:
Key Takeaways
- New research from resume.io ranks the scariest jobs in the U.S. by median salary.
- Researchers analyzed 23 U.S. occupations associated with fear, danger, death or the macabre.
You might find the idea of working for decades before you can retire a bit frightening, but is your job scary enough to be someone’s Halloween costume?
New research from AI-powered career platform resume.io explores some of the “scariest” jobs in the U.S. — and which ones pay the most.
Researchers analyzed 23 U.S. occupations associated with fear, danger, death or the macabre, assigning each a fear score from 0 to 100.