The 10 Most Stressful Jobs in America: Not Air Traffic Controller or Teacher

If we had the choice, many of us would likely never do a day’s work in our lives, let alone work in one of the most stressful jobs in America, according to our 2014 list. Yet most of us don’t have the luxury of living a carefree (and work-free life), we have bills to pay, family to take care of, and require money to live a happy and fulfilling life. Thus, even stressful jobs can actually be in demand, as the very nature of their stressful work makes them higher paying than more idyllic positions.

Of course, stress is also largely subjective, and a job that may stress out one person, could be totally stress-free for another. So by no means should anyone automatically avoid the most stressful jobs in America as found on our 2014 list; just be wary that in general, they have a higher stress level than other positions. If after reading this countdown you’d like detailed descriptions on a few more of the most stressful jobs in the world, check out our feature on 11 Most Stressful Jobs in America. We checked several articles before compiling our list. Some of them suggested that air traffic controllers or teachers have more stressful jobs. Our source didn’t list air traffic controllers or teachers.

We gathered data from a recent publication by Forbes which ranked jobs according to their stress factor.  Along with a description of the position, we’ve also listed each position’s median salary (which half of all workers make more than, and half less), to allow for easy judging of whether the position pays well enough considering the stress involved.

Now then, let’s begin our list of the most stressful jobs in America, beginning with a position that many people would likely not expect to be on it.