America's Best- and Worst-Paying Jobs

by Klaus Kneale, Forbes.com
It's still better to be a doctor than a dicer. Food preparation and serving remains the nation's lowest-paid line of work, while the medical field still offers the nine best-paid jobs in the U.S.

According to the U.S. government's newly released Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, based on 2008 data, the typical surgeon makes an average of $206,770 a year. That puts surgeons above anesthesiologists to have the best-paying job in the country.

Internists now earn a little more than prosthodontists (people who make and fit false teeth). Otherwise, the top 10 jobs rank the same as a year ago. The biggest change is a nearly $10,000-a-year drop in pay for natural sciences managers, meaning people who run labs and research facilities.