Looking to kickstart your career? These are the best jobs for 2026, Indeed says
What makes a good job is always in flux, especially as technology evolves. Read on to see what the Indeed Hiring Lab ranks as the best jobs in the U.S. for 2026.
The career services firm based its analysis on how commonly open jobs are listed on its employment platform; median salary; wage growth between 2022 and 2025; and how quickly listings for certain jobs are growing, among other criteria.
Health care boom
Health care jobs dominate Indeed’s ranking, with the industry accounting for 40% of the top 50 jobs on the firm’s best jobs list. Recent government labor data also points to robust job growth in health care.
The top job for 2026: cardiac medical technician. The number of listings for the role on Indeed’s website has surged 34% since 2022, while wages have grown by the same amount. Cardiac medical techs earn a median salary of nearly $134,000. Nurse practitioner ranks No. 3, with a median salary of $143,183.
The second-best job for 2026 requires heavy machinery: a truck. Owner-operator truck drivers earn a median salary of $160,000 and are in high demand, according to the report.
Ranked No. 10 by Indeed, data scientist is the only technology job that earned a spot in the top 10. Other tech roles in the top 50 include SAP consultant (No. 24), software engineer (No. 28) and business intelligence developer (No. 29; see here for the full list of 2026 best jobs.)
Employees in these tech roles work directly with artificial intelligence, but have not been supplanted by the technology, Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed, told CBS News.
Skilling up
A number of other top-ranked jobs are in the skilled trades, where AI’s influence is more limited. For example, Indeed listed HVAC technician as No. 16, while also underlining the growing demand for electricians. Such professions are less exposed to AI, experts have said, with labor data showing growing interest in such professions among young people.
“Hands-on jobs are less at risk,” Ullrich told CBS News.
“For a long while, HVAC technicians, electricians and jobs in some fields were out of vogue,” she added. “But now at a lot of community colleges, there are wait lists for programs that teach those skilled trades.”
