The highest paying entry-level jobs in the US right now are nursing and software engineering, with median stated pay a little over $100,000 a year for both, though the nursing figure leans on travel-nurse contracts (more on that below). Non-software engineering comes next at about $88,000, then data and financial analyst roles in the low $70,000s. These numbers come from US postings tagged entry level in our feed in the 30 days to November 7, 2026, using only the 7,596 that stated a salary or hourly rate. Across all of them, the median was about $55,000.
Which entry-level jobs pay the most?
Middle half of stated pay, dot = median. In brackets: postings with pay.
| Nurse (62) | $70k to $137k |
| Software engineer (130) | $86k to $130k |
| Engineer (non-software) (67) | $80k to $112k |
| Data analyst (69) | $65k to $88k |
| Financial analyst (22) | $65k to $75k |
| Marketing (77) | $57k to $76k |
| Accountant (37) | $55k to $73k |
| Sales (778) | $43k to $81k |
| Administrative (1,054) | $44k to $61k |
| Customer service (659) | $31k to $46k |
US postings tagged entry level, 30 days to Nov 7, 2026. Medians: nurse $104k, software engineer $102k, engineer (non-software) $88k, data analyst $73k, financial analyst $72k, marketing $66k, accountant $63k, sales $60k, administrative $50k, customer service $40k. Financial analyst rests on 22 postings, so treat it as rough. The nurse row mixes staff jobs with travel-nurse contracts, which pull it up.
Source: Fresherify job feed, 30 days to Nov 7, 2026
Two things jump out. The top of the chart is all jobs with a gate in front of them: a nursing license, a computer science or engineering degree, or at least a strong portfolio. And the jobs with the most openings sit at the bottom. Administrative roles had 1,054 postings with pay and customer service had 659, against 130 for software engineering. Fewer than 1 in 50 entry-level postings with a stated salary was a software job.
Read the nursing row with care before you plan a career around it. It has the widest band on the chart, from about $70,000 to $137,000, and it rests on only 62 postings. We think travel-nurse contracts are a big part of why. Agencies quote weekly pay for short assignments away from home, and annualized, a weekly rate looks like a very large salary. Aya Healthcare, a travel-nurse staffing agency, was among the 20 most active posters in this entry-level set, and our snapshot can't separate its postings from new-grad hospital jobs. So treat $104,000 as what nurse postings advertised, not as what a first staff RN job will pay. Entry level in nursing still means a nursing degree and a passed NCLEX.
Source: Our job data, Nov 12, 2026
How we worked out these numbers
Every number on this page comes from pay that employers wrote into the posting. We never guess a salary for a job that does not state one. For each posting we take the midpoint of the range and turn hourly, weekly or monthly pay into a yearly figure. We drop yearly pay under $15,000, which is almost always a mislabeled hourly or monthly rate, and ranges where the top is four times the bottom. Then we group postings by title and take the median.
Know the limits before you quote us. "Entry level" means the source labeled the job that way, or the title says junior, entry level, graduate, trainee or similar. A part-time job is annualized as if it were full time, so a $30-an-hour job counts as about $62,000 even if it only offers 15 hours a week. And our feed follows what our members search for, so it is a large sample of US postings, not every job in the country.
Do these numbers match what new graduates get offered?
Roughly, with one big gap. Every winter the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) asks its employer members what they plan to pay new bachelor's graduates. Its Winter 2026 survey, published in January, is a useful check because it comes from employers rather than job ads, so we set its figures next to ours.
| Field | NACE projection | Our median |
|---|---|---|
| Software (CS majors) | $81,535 | $102k, 130 postings |
| Engineering, other | $81,198 | $88k, 67 postings |
| Marketing | $66,994 | $66k, 77 postings |
| Sales | $67,927 | $60k, 778 postings |
NACE figures are projected average base salaries by bachelor's major, from 150 employer surveys returned between October 8 and November 30, 2025. Our medians come from US postings, 30 days to Nov 7, 2026.
Source: NACE Winter 2026 Salary Survey (Jan 26, 2026); Fresherify job feed
Marketing lines up almost exactly. Software is where the postings run about $20,000 ahead, and we would not bank that difference. A posted range often covers the whole pay band for the role, someone with no experience is more likely to start in the lower half than at the top, and our method takes the midpoint. NACE also counts base salary only, with no bonus or stock. If you are a computer science graduate, $80,000 to $90,000 is a fairer first-offer target than $102,000.
Sales runs the other way, lower in postings than in the survey. That is because "sales" in job titles covers two very different jobs: sales development roles at software companies that pay a salary plus commission, and store sales jobs that pay by the hour. The NACE number is for graduates going into the first kind.
High paying entry-level jobs with no experience or no degree
Our data can't see degree requirements, so we won't pretend to rank by them. What we can say is which of the ten rows commonly hire people straight out of school or without a degree at all: sales, administrative and customer service. Of those, sales pays best, with a median of about $60,000 and a band from $43,000 to $81,000. It is also the least predictable pay on the chart.
Why sales tops the no-degree list
- The top of the band (about $81,000) is higher than the median for data analysts.
- Sales development and business development roles are built for people with no experience.
- Results are easy to measure, so a strong first year can turn into a raise quickly.
What to check before you say yes
- Many postings quote on-target earnings (OTE), which assumes you hit quota. Ask what the base salary is.
- Commission-only roles with no base pay often call themselves "entry level marketing" or "management trainee".
- Store sales roles share the same titles but pay by the hour, with no commission upside.
Remote entry-level jobs that pay well
Middle half of stated pay, with the median marked
| Customer service | $39k to $57k |
| Sales | $47k to $78k |
| Admin or data | $45k to $75k |
| Tech | $59k to $90k |
Remote postings tagged entry level, any country, pay stated in US dollars.
Source: Our job data, Nov 12, 2026
Remote doesn't mean lower pay at entry level. In the 30 days to November 7, our feed picked up about 9,800 remote postings tagged entry level, about two thirds of them US-based, and the 3,684 that stated pay in US dollars had a median of $60,000, a little above the $55,000 for all US entry-level postings. The mix explains part of it: remote openings lean toward tech, sales and analyst work, and away from store and warehouse jobs. Tech roles led at a median of about $75,000.
One caution. By a wide margin, the most active remote poster in this group was Mindrift, an AI training platform, and that kind of work is usually a per-hour contract with no guaranteed hours. Good money per hour, not a salary. Our entry-level jobs page shows how often entry-level postings are remote and who posts the most.
Turn an hourly wage into a yearly salary
Lots of entry-level postings quote an hourly rate, which makes them hard to compare with salaried jobs. Plug the rate in below. If the job is part time, change the hours: that is where most people overestimate what a job will pay.
Hourly to yearly pay calculator
Before tax. Unpaid weeks off lower the yearly figure, so set weeks to 50 if you will take two unpaid weeks.
Newest entry-level postings in our feed
Live list, refreshed Nov 12, 2026
- A$17/hr
- A$20/hr
- G$35 to $50/hr
- L$225k+
- L$225k+
- T
$50/hr - B
$21 to $22/hr - U
$19 to $25/hr
How to land an offer in the top half of the band
- 1
Pick a row you can reach in months
Data analyst is the most reachable well-paid row for most graduates: SQL, a spreadsheet tool and two small projects you can show. Nursing and engineering take years of study, so they are a plan, not a job search.
- 2
Apply where the pay is written down
A posted range tells you the ceiling before you spend an hour on the application. Skip postings that hide pay until you have five or six that show it.
- 3
Ask where new hires usually start
Recruiters expect the question, and the answer tells you whether the top of the range is real for you. Use the message below at the first call or by email.
- 4
Anchor your number to the posting
When they ask what you expect, name a figure inside their range, a little above the middle if you have an internship or project that matches the job. Asking for more than the posted top rarely works at entry level.
Hi [Name], Thanks for setting up the call for the [Job title] role. Before we talk, could you share the pay range for the position and where people joining at entry level usually start within it? It helps me make sure we are a good match on both sides. Thanks, [Your name]
Send it after they have contacted you, not with your application.
If you are still in school or just graduated, our new grad jobs page tracks roles labeled new grad, early career or rotational program. Two of the bigger employers posting entry-level roles this month, CVS Health and Amazon, have their own careers pages on Fresherify.
Questions people ask
What entry-level job pays the most?
In our US postings for the 30 days to November 7, 2026, nursing (about $104,000 median, pulled up by travel-nurse contracts) and software engineering (about $102,000) paid the most. Both need a specific qualification first. Of the roles that commonly hire without a degree, sales paid best at about $60,000.
What is a good salary for an entry-level job?
The median stated pay across 7,596 US entry-level postings was about $55,000, and the middle half ran from $41,600 to $80,000. An offer above $80,000 puts you in the top quarter of what entry-level postings advertise.
How much do entry-level jobs pay per hour?
The $55,000 median works out to about $26 an hour at 40 hours a week, all year. Customer service, the lowest row on our chart, had a median of about $40,000, or roughly $19 an hour.
Do remote entry-level jobs pay less?
Not in our data. Remote entry-level postings that stated pay in US dollars had a median of $60,000, a little above the overall entry-level figure. Check whether a remote role is salaried or a per-hour contract, because contract work often has no guaranteed hours.
Is the salary in a job posting what I will be offered?
Usually not the top of it. Posted ranges tend to cover the whole band for a role, and new hires often start in the lower half. Ask the recruiter where entry-level hires usually land before you name a number.
What high paying jobs need no experience?
Sales development roles are the clearest example: they are designed for people with no experience, and base plus commission can reach the top of the entry-level band. Be careful with any posting that offers high pay for simple work like data entry, because those are often scams.