The COVID-19 pandemic forced many employees, businesses, and industries to go remote on a large scale for the first time. And if you were one of these employees, you may have started to question the need to be physically in an office to do your job. In fact, in a Gallup study conducted in May and June of 2021, 94% of employees still working from home said they’d prefer to keep working remotely indefinitely at least some of the time. Unfortunately, not all employers feel the same way, and many plan to bring their full workforce back to the office after the pandemic ends—or have already done so.
If you want to keep working remotely for the long term—whether it’s because you’ve realized you’re more productive, have better work-life balance, or otherwise prefer it—there is some good news. Fully remote positions are no longer as rare as they once were. And among high-paying jobs specifically, the proportion that are fully remote is exploding: In the third quarter of 2021, 14.67% of high-paying job openings were remote, compared to just 3.69% in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a study conducted by Ladders, Inc., which defined “high-paying” as annual salaries over $80,000.
Ladders Inc. also analyzed job openings on their site as well as on the websites of the largest 50,000 employers in the U.S. and Canada to determine growth in high-paying, remote jobs between January 2020 and September 2021. The study found that some industries are adding these positions at a much faster rate than others.
So if you’re looking to stay remote—and get paid well—you might want to take a look at jobs in the industries that had the largest percentage increase in high-paying remote job openings. Maybe you already work in one of these industries, and you might consider leaving your job if your employer wants you back in the office. Or you can always consider a career pivot.
Here are the fastest-growing industries for high-paying remote jobs. Click on the links to search for all open remote jobs in these industries. (Note that while the number of high-paying remote jobs in these industries increased, not all job listings will pay over $80,000.)
- Finance and Insurance (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 2,062%)
- Legal and Accounting (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,995%)
- Retail (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,651%)
- Aerospace (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,341%)
- Media (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,280%)
- Real Estate and Construction (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,150%)
- Information Technology (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,132%)
- Education, Government, and Nonprofit (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,097%)
- Consumer Technology (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,028%) and Goods (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,651%)
- Hospitals and Medical Centers (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,028%) and Healthcare (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 859%)
- Telecommunications (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 1,020%)
- Energy and Utilities (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 897%)
- Technical Services (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 878%) and Enterprise Technology (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 701%)
- Manufacturing (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 869%)
- Food and Beverage (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 719%)
- Hospitality and Recreation (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 644%)
- Transportation (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 634%)
- Business Services (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 550%)
- Staffing (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 475%)
- Pharmaceuticals (Percentage increase in high-paying remote jobs: 248%)